WHO launches health review after microplastics found in 90% of bottled water

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: March 15, 2018 at 9:09:33 AM EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] WHO launches health review after microplastics found in 90% of bottled water
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> 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
> By Graham Readfearn
> Mar 14 2018
> <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/15/microplastics-found-in-more-than-90-of-bottled-water-study-says>
>
> 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.
>
> Concentrations were as high as 10,000 plastic pieces for every 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, reported by the Guardian.
>
> 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.
>
> [snip]
>
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