2024-03-19 13:00:46
A study revealed that the bottled water we consume contains up to 100 times the amount of plastic pieces previously believed.
A study recently published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) revealed that every time you drink bottled water, an immense amount of plastic particleswhich would even be up to 100 times the previously estimated amount.
Depending on their size, these small pieces can be microplastics o nanoplásticos. The first are fragments that can reach up to 5 millimeters thick. The latter, meanwhile, are smaller particles, measuring one-thousandth the width of a hair and can escape detection by microscope.
The problem with nanoplastics is that these synthetic chemicals are potentially harmful to the body, and can affect vital cells and organs of the human being.
Up to 240,000 pieces of plastic
This study, conducted on 3 popular brands of water sold in the US (not specified which ones), found an average of 240,000 plastic particles per liter of bottled water, of which 90% were nanoplastics.
According to researchers at Columbia University, this represents a much higher concentration compared to previous studies, which could not detect with certainty the exact amount of the nanoplastics, the smallest pieces.
Now, however, the measurement has been made more precise with a technique called Raman scattering microscopy, which uses two lasers to identify specific molecules in water.
Source: La República Peru.com