The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to launch a review of reports that microplastic contaminants were found in popular bottled water brands — including Aquafina, Dasani, and San Pellegrino.
Orb Media, a nonprofit journalism organization, commissioned scientists at the State University of New York to conduct a study into bottled water contaminants using an industry-standard infrared microscope. Out of 259 individual bottles surveyed, 93 percent showed “some sign of microplastic contamination,” with an average of 325 microplastic particles per liter. The particles were identified via a process called Nile Red tagging, which is when red dye is used to fluoresce particles in the water. The study hasn’t yet been peer reviewed.
“Some of the bottles we tested contained so many particles that we asked a former astrophysicist to use his experience counting stars in the heavens to help us tally these fluorescing constellations,” Orb Media explained in their article about the study.
A representative from the WHO told The Guardian that it 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.”
The study analyzed bottles from the following popular American, Canadian and European brands: Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life, and San Pellegrino; and other brands popular in different countries, including Aqua (Indonesia), Bisleri (India), Epura (Mexico), Gerolsteiner (Germany), Minalba (Brazil), and Wahaha (China).
As explained in the study, some bottled water is merely "filtered municipal tap water.” Thus, the bottles were purchased from a number of locations to diversify the sources.
The conclusion of this study estimates that a person who drinks a liter of bottled water a day might be consuming tens of thousands of microplastic pieces each year. However, it is unclear what the human health effects of that are. Some components of plastic have been labeled probable carcinogens.
Brands tested have responded to some media requests to comment on the study. Coca Cola told BBC it uses a “multi-step filtration process," but acknowledged that microplastics "appear to be ubiquitous and therefore may be found at minute levels even in highly treated products."
PepsiCo told BBC that Aquafina had "rigorous quality control measures sanitary manufacturing practices, filtration and other food safety mechanisms which yield a reliably safe product.”
Gerolsteiner told BBC that it has been testing its bottled water for microplastics, and that since microparticles are “everywhere” the “possibility of them entering the product from ambient air or packaging materials during the bottling process can therefore not be completely ruled out.”
Plastic contamination poses a looming ecological and environmental threat. The Guardian reported in June 2017 that an estimated one million plastic water bottle are sold around the world every minute.
Bottled water is popular for countries that have an “on the go” lifestyle, and can be critical to those who lives in parts of the world where safe and clean water is inaccessible. According to the WHO, 2.1 billion lack access to “readily available water at home”; that means an average of 3 in 10 people worldwide.
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