Bottled water offers great help and comfort to us. Unfortunately, though it has helped a lot of people to get hydrated even in the most unexpected places, these plastic bottles still pose a great danger to nature. Aside from increasing trash to the environment, plastic bottles also add pollution to the marine life and also to the soil, especially once burned, as reported by Print Wand.
But did you know that aside from this, experts found another reason why bottled water can put our bodies at more risk? According to TIME, a study released by Orb Media, which is published in Frontiers in Chemistry, showed how most bottled water available in the market today has contaminated water inside with "microplastic" synthetic polymer particles in it.
To be successful in gathering the information through their study, the experts analyzed about 259 plastic bottles as their sample. The plastic bottles used in the study are from the different but famous brand of bottled water in the US with varying concentrations of plastic.
At the end of the study, they found out that among all the plastic bottled water in the study, 93% of them have contaminated water with an average of about 325 microplastic particles per liter. The brand that tops the list is the one from Nestle Pure Life, which showed about 10,000 microplastic particles per liter.
What is more disturbing about this is not all the particles they've discovered need a microscope or magnifying glass for them to see. Experts say some are big enough to be seen by a naked eye. "Some were visible without a magnifying glass or microscope," explains Sherri Mason, author of the study and a sustainability researcher at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
These microplastic particles are not just present in the plastic bottled waters we often drink. These unknown particles are also transmittable through food and even through the air, we breathe.
Humans are indeed vulnerable to these particles, but despite that, experts are still unsure with up to what extent these microplastic particles can affect one's body, Phoebe Stapleton, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers University, shares just by thinking how the body accumulate plastic from everything is quite "uncomfortable and scary".
Meanwhile, while it is still uncertain whether how these particles can negatively affect the body, experts are now urging more people to at least limit their contact to it. Instead of using plastic bottles, which are also putting our nature at risk, better to use reusable cups or mugs instead. Doing so is way cheaper, healthier, and nature-friendly too.
