One litre bottle of water found to be hiding 2,40,000 tiny plastic fragments

If you thought that you've quenched your thirst after drinking water from a plastic bottle, then think again. You've probably done more harm than good to your body. A new study, for the first time, has found that a single plastic bottle, typically 1 litre, contains over 2,40,000 tiny nanoplastic fragments.

It is not unknown that microplastics do exist in a plastic bottle of water, but new research has finally brought to light the number of nanoplastic particles one can expect to be consuming when gushing down one litre of water.

In the new study, published on January 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Columbia University used a newly developed laser technology to find even smaller fragments, which upped the number of microplastics in bottled water by a factor of 10. In some cases, more than 100.

From 1,10,000 to 3,70,000 tiny plastic particles in each litre, 90% of them nanoplastics, were found by the researchers.

Columbia's biophysicist and study co-author Wei Min, who invented the new technology, detected an average 2,40,000 plastic fragments per litre of bottled water.

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HOW HARMFUL ARE NANOPLASTICS TO YOUR HEALTH?

Around 90% of the particles identified were classified as nanoplastics, measuring less than 1 micrometre. Unlike microplastics, nanoplastics possess the ability to traverse the digestive and respiratory systems, entering the bloodstream.

Subsequently, these minuscule particles can accumulate in vital organs such as the heart muscle, breach the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain, and even infiltrate the bodies of unborn infants by crossing the placenta.

"This study provides a powerful tool to address the challenges in analysing nanoplastics, which holds the promise to bridge the current knowledge gap on plastic pollution at the nano level," said Naixin Qian.

Predictably, among the various nanoplastic types identified in the analysis of three popular bottled water brands (whose names were not disclosed by the scientists), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) emerged as one of the most prevalent.

PET is the predominant plastic used in the bottled beverage industry. The researchers proposed that the minute particles likely leach into the water during bottle compression or through the repetitive screwing and unscrewing of the bottle cap.

Another commonly found plastic type in the examined bottled water samples was nylon. Co-author of the study, Beizhan Yan, a geochemistry research professor at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), suggested that these particles may originate from filters intended to purify the water.

So far, there has been little research about what nanoplastics do when they enter the bloodstream. But there's enough evidence to prove what chemicals used to make plastics do when they enter the body.

Dangerous chemicals used in plastic production, such as bisphenols, phthalates, dioxins, organic contaminants, and heavy metals that are harmful in high doses can increase the risk of cancer and impacting key organs such as the kidneys, the liver, the heart, reproduction and the nervous system.

They can also accumulate through the food chain.

The researchers admitted to increasing the study domain of nanoplastics even if they make up 90% of the number of plastic particles found in bottled water.

They make up far less in mass, he said. "It’s not size that matters. It’s the numbers, because the smaller things are, the more easily they can get inside us."