A new study has revealed that people who drink bottled water every day consume at least 90 thousand microplastics a year.
According to Wired, drinking water in plastic bottles contains countless particles too small to be seen with the naked eye. PhD student Sarah Sajedi from Concordia University in Canada reviewed 140 scientific articles to determine the effects of plastic bottles on humans.
Accordingly, people take in an average of 39 thousand to 52 thousand microplastics per year from food and drinking water. For those who drink bottled water every day, this figure is approximately 90 thousand more per year.
The researcher explains the situation as follows: “Drinking water from a plastic bottle is not a problem in emergencies, but it should not be used in daily life. Even though its effect on the body is not immediate, it is necessary to understand its potential for chronic harm.”
Microplastics
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Microplastics smaller than five millimeters and nanoplastics measuring only 1-1000 nanometers are uninvited guests of food.
So how do invisible plastic particles get into our food? And how do we deal with this insidious threat on a planet filled with plastic?
The answer is hidden in the kitchen: They spill from the spatula you use while preparing breakfast in the morning, they leak from the plastic water bottle you put in your child’s bag, they float in the tea glass on your table.
According to a study, even opening and closing the cap of a plastic bottle significantly increases the amount of microplastics in water. Because every time we turn the lid, an average of 554 microplastic particles per liter appear.
But using a good water filter makes a difference. As a matter of fact, even a simple carbon filter placed in jugs can reduce microplastics by up to 90 percent.
According to European and US experts, bottled water generally contains more microplastics than tap water and is linked to various diseases:
- inflammation
- hormone disorder
- Particulate accumulation in organs
For all these reasons, plastic pollution is not only an environmental problem but also a public health problem. Everyone’s access to safe drinking water is one of the fundamental human rights, but in most countries, including Türkiye, dependence on plastic bottles for clean water continues.
Although states are working on laws to limit plastic waste, these regulations are mostly limited to products such as plastic bags, straws and packaging materials.
