In a trailblazing new study, researchers have discovered bottled water sold in stores can contain 10 to 100 times more bits of plastic than previously estimated — nanoparticles so infinitesimally tiny they cannot be seen under a microscope.

At 1,000th the average width of a human hair, nanoplastics are so teeny they can migrate through the tissues of the digestive tract or lungs into the bloodstream, distributing potentially harmful synthetic chemicals throughout the body and into cells, experts say.

One liter of water — the equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters — contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, of which 90% were identified as nanoplastics and the rest were microplastics, according to the new study.

  • @TKRyer
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    146 months ago

    So what the hell are we supposed to drink now?

    • @[email protected]OP
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      346 months ago

      A couple recommendations from the article:

      The new finding reinforces long-held expert advice to drink tap water from glass or stainless steel containers to reduce exposure, Mason said. That advice extends to other foods and drinks packaged in plastic as well, she added.

      “We can avoid consuming foods and beverages in plastic containers. We can wear clothing made from natural fabrics and buy consumer products made from natural materials,” Houlihan said. “We can simply take stock of the plastic in our daily lives and find alternatives whenever feasible.”

      • @[email protected]
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        116 months ago

        Good luck with that in Mexico. All drinking water is bottled and 99.999something% is plastic bottles and I can tell you that coca cola and Pepsi (having some 99something% of the market) won’t give a flying fuck about the health of millions of people, or the environment, those bottles will remain plastic and fuck you all.

          • @[email protected]
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            96 months ago

            If you’re trying to avoid micro plastics, as long as you use ceramics that don’t use acrylic, you should be good.

            • @[email protected]
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              -56 months ago

              But what about micro-ceramics!!

              Did you know that eating the shards of just one porcelain teapot can kill an adult walrus? Imagine what the tiny nano-shards of those ceramics might do to you!!