US researchers using a new nanoplastic detection method have revealed ‘10-100 times more nanoplastics in bottled water’ than had previously been documented.
Earlier in January 2024 laboratory research from US Consumer Reports found microplastics – from 5 millimetres to 1 micrometre in size – in 84 out of 85 foods tested, with medicalnewstoday.com commenting: ‘Plastics seem to have infiltrated the human food chain to an even greater degree than previously understood.’
Now researchers at Columbia University – using the new SRS method (hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering microscopy) for detecting tiny nanoparticles of plastic in bottled water (less than a thousandth the width of a human hair and so small they’re measured in billionths of a metre) – found between 110,000 and 370,000 nanoparticles (most of which were nanoplastics) when they tested three popular bottled water brands.
Their study was published in the journal PNAS, and co-author Dr Phoebe Stapleton commented: ‘Our instrument was tuned to detect plastics only, so we only know that there are other nanoparticles not included in the seven major types of plastics we focused on.’
While the study declined to specify the brands tested, Dr Stapleton noted: ‘There was a range in the number of particles identified per brand. However, these were still within the hundreds of thousands of nanoplastic particles.’
Fellow co-author Dr Beizhan Yan added: ‘For bottled water, these particles may also come from the filters used in the filtration process.’
The Consumer Reports study also found phthalates (a group of chemicals used to make plastics more durable) ‘in almost every food tested, often at high levels.’ No particular type of food was more likely to contain phthalates, nor did packaging type appear to be a factor.
Dr Stapleton recommended water drinkers switch from disposable plastic bottles to metal or glass.
