Bottled water from most brands, including Bisleri, contain plastic particles
A US-based non-profit has found alarming results: about 90% of all bottled water, including in India, is contaminated by microplastics. Hence someone who drinks a liter of bottled water a day might be consuming thousands of microplastic particles every year. In fact, the variability in such particles is "similar to...(that of) open water bodies" when sampled for microplastic pollution.
A brief introduction to the study and samples
Orb Media, the non-profit, took samples from 19 locations in nine countries in five continents. Apart from India, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the US were covered. They identified different plastic particles, like nylon, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
How did they detect the microplastic particles?
The researchers infused each sample bottle with a dye called Nile Red, then poured the water through a glass fiber filter. Seen under blue crime light through a microscope, with the help of orange goggles, particles glowed brightly with fluorescence, sometimes thousands of them. The scientists identified particles ranging in size from 6.5 microns (0.0065mm) to 100 microns (0.10mm).
So what did they find?
The study found plastic particles in 93% of the samples. Concentration in a single bottle varied widely, from zero to more than 10,000. An average of 10.4 particles in the 100 micron range were found per liter of water. Smaller particles were even more common, averaging roughly 325 per liter. The particles in a single bottle varied widely in size and type.
How could microplastic particles affect us?
Though the researchers haven't commented on potential health effects, microplastics are known to cause poisoning, infertility and genetic disruption in marine animals, and could harm humans the same way. Inhaling them can affect the lungs as badly as car fumes. And their number is increasing. The UN saidmicroplastics had been found in "environments as remote as a Mongolian mountain lake & deep-sea sediments."
