Bottled water contaminated with plastic particles; tap water is much safer – New York Researchers

We are drinking plastic particles!  That is the shocking conclusion of the research of the world’s leading brands of bottled water in nine countries.

The research found that the bottles are contaminated with tiny plastic particles that are likely seeping in during the packaging process.

Even more shocking was the recommendation of the researchers: tap water is much safer than bottled water. “Tap water, by and large, is much safer than bottled water,” said Sherri Mason, a micro-plastic researcher  at State University of New York and leader of the team.

“Widespread contamination” with plastic was found in the study, according to a summary released by Orb Media, a US-based non-profit media collective.

Researchers tested 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, and the United States.

Plastic was identified in 93 percent of the samples, which included major name brands such as Aqua, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino. Some of the brands are also available in Nigeria.

The plastic debris included polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used to make bottle caps.

“In this study, 65 percent of the particles we found were actually fragments and not fibers,” Mason told AFP.

“I think it is coming through the process of bottling the water. I think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle itself, it is coming from the cap, it is coming from the industrial process of bottling the water.”

Particle concentration ranged from “zero to more than 10,000 likely plastic particles in a single bottle,” said the report.