WHO launches health review after microplastics found
in 90% of bottled water
Researchers
find levels of plastic fibres in popular bottled water brands could be twice as
high as those found in tap water
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has
announced a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water after
a new analysis of some of the world’s most popular bottled water brands found
that more than 90% contained tiny pieces of plastic. A previous study also
found high levels of microplastics in tap water.
In the new study, analysis of 259 bottles from
19 locations in nine countries across 11 different brands found an average of
325 plastic particles for every litre of water being sold.
In one bottle of Nestlé Pure Life,
concentrations were as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per litre of water. Of the
259 bottles tested, only 17 were free of plastics, according to the study.
Scientists based at the State University of
New York in Fredonia were commissioned by journalism project
Orb Media to analyse the bottled water.
The scientists wrote they had “found roughly
twice as many plastic particles within bottled water” compared with their
previous study of tap water,
According to the new study, the most common type of plastic fragment
found was polypropylene – the same type of plastic used to make bottle caps.
The bottles analysed were bought in the US, China, Brazil, India, Indonesia,
Mexico, Lebanon, Kenya and Thailand.
Scientists used Nile red dye to fluoresce
particles in the water – the dye tends to stick to the surface of plastics but
not most natural materials.
The study has not been published in a journal
and has not been through scientific peer review. Dr Andrew Mayes, a University
of East Anglia scientist who developed the Nile red technique, told Orb Media
he was “satisfied that it has been applied carefully and appropriately, in a
way that I would have done it in my lab”.
The brands Orb Media said it had tested were:
Aqua (Danone), Aquafina (PepsiCo), Bisleri (Bisleri International), Dasani
(Coca-Cola), Epura (PepsiCo), Evian (Danone), Gerolsteiner (Gerolsteiner
Brunnen), Minalba (Grupo Edson Queiroz), Nestlé Pure Life (Nestlé), San
Pellegrino (Nestlé) and Wahaha (Hangzhou Wahaha Group).
A World Health Organisation spokesman told the
Guardian that although there was not yet any evidence on impacts on human
health, it was aware it was an emerging area of concern. The spokesman said the
WHO would “review the very scarce available evidence with the objective of
identifying evidence gaps, and establishing a research agenda to inform a more
thorough risk assessment.”
A second unrelated analysis, also just
released, was commissioned by campaign group Story of Stuff and
examined 19 consumer bottled water brands in the US.It also found plastic
microfibres were widespread.
The brand Boxed Water contained an average of
58.6 plastic fibres per litre. Ozarka and Ice Mountain, both owned by Nestlé,
had concentrations at 15 and 11 pieces per litre, respectively. Fiji Water had
12 plastic fibres per litre.
Abigail Barrows, who carried out the research
for Story of Stuff in her laboratory in Maine, said there were several possible
routes for the plastics to be entering the bottles.
“Plastic microfibres are easily airborne.
Clearly that’s occurring not just outside but inside factories. It could come
in from fans or the clothing being worn,” she said.
Stiv Wilson, campaign coordinator at Story of
Stuff, said finding plastic contamination in bottled water was problematic
“because people are paying a premium for these products”.
Jacqueline Savitz, of campaign group Oceana,
said: “We know plastics are building up in marine animals and this means we too
are being exposed, some of us every day. Between the microplastics in water,
the toxic chemicals in plastics and the end-of-life exposure to marine animals,
it’s a triple whammy.”
Nestlé criticised the methodology of the Orb
Media study, claiming in a statement
to CBC that the technique using Nile red dye could “generate
false positives”.
Coca-Cola told the
BBC it had strict filtration methods, but acknowledged the
ubiquity of plastics in the environment meant plastic fibres “may be found at
minute levels even in highly treated products”.
A Gerolsteiner spokesperson said the company,
too, could not rule out plastics getting into bottled water from airborne
sources or from packing processes. The spokesperson said concentrations of
plastics in water from their own analyses were lower than those allowed in
pharmaceutical products.
Danone claimed the Orb Media study used a
methodology that was “unclear”. The American Beverage Association said it
“stood by the safety” of its bottled water, adding that the science around
microplastics was only just emerging.
The Guardian contacted Nestlé and Boxed Water
for comment on the Story of Stuff study, but had not received a response at the
time of publication.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.