Plastic particles in drinking water - What are the general health risks?

Drinking water is polluted worldwide with microplastic

Microscopic plastic particles and fibers float throughout the oceans, rivers and freshwater reservoirs. An American research team has now turned to the question: If all waters are contaminated by microplastic pollution, could plastic also be in drinking water? The scientists conducted an observational experiment that examined more than 150 tap water samples from cities on five continents. European water was also scrutinized. The results are cause for concern.

The research team was astounded to find that there are no public research projects on this subject, although microplastic particles are to be found almost everywhere: in sewage, in the ocean, in rivers, they fly as microscopic-small fibers even through the air. According to the University of Minnesota School of Public Health study, pioneered by Sherri Ann Mason, a pioneer in microplastic pollution research, global drinking water is also affected by plastic pollution.

A recent study shows that microplastic particles have already reached most drinking water reservoirs. The health consequences are uncertain. (Image: stokkete / fotolia.com)

Welcome to the plastic age

If researchers later find remnants of our present-day culture, they would surely call our age the plastic age, for plastic is everywhere. It envelops our meals and streamlines our cars. Every household has countless plastic articles. But these articles are just the tip of the plastic mountain. Because beyond the visible and palpable spectrum is the realm of invisible sculpture. Tiny fibers, plastic fragments and chemical by-products get into every body of water - and our drinking water.

The samples come from very different areas

The water samples came from metropolises like New Delhi, Jakarta and Beirut as well as from small towns like Pinebluff in North Carolina with 1,439 inhabitants. The researchers wanted to ensure the greatest possible geographical diversity. Two samples from Germany were also represented. All water samples were analyzed using laborious and sterile methods in the University of Minnesota laboratory to rule out potential sources of additional contamination.

Terrifying results
Only 19 percent of drinking water samples contained no microplastic particles. For thirty-eight percent of the samples, the proportions of the microplastic particles were so small that they were barely measurable by the methods used. For the remaining samples, clear microplastic contamination could be detected. The contamination was highest in samples from the USA and Beirut. Here, 94 percent of the water samples contained microscopic plastic fibers.

Europe had the lowest values

From Europe eight samples from Slovakia, three from England, two from Germany, two from Switzerland and one each from Ireland, France and Italy were examined. Here, the proportion of polluted samples averaged 72 percent. According to the scientists, one can not draw any general conclusions about the water quality in the individual countries from these results. The results, however, would show the urgent need for further investigation.

Research on microplastic pollution just at the beginning

"As this is the first global drinking water survey of plastic pollution, the results of this study provide the first insight into the consequences of human plastic use and disposal," researcher Mary Kosuth wrote in her report to the non-profit organization Orb Media, which the study published. Comprehensive assessments of global plastic contamination would require further and more intensive testing.

Researchers demand legal consequences

Professor Sherri Ann Mason supervised the study. In previous research projects she has already documented the broad extent of microplastic pollution in large waters of North America. Their findings have been used to support a partial legal ban on microplastic granule products in the United States and Canada.

Plastic particles have no geographic or financial limits

The researchers report that this previously unknown contamination defies both wealth and geography. The number of plastic fibers found in tap water at the Trump Tower in Manhattan would not have been different from the samples from Beirut, Lebanon and Kampala in Uganda.

Unknown health consequences of toxins

Health risks due to plastic parts in marine fish and now drinking water have been discussed for some time. According to the researchers, a person who drinks two liters of microplastic-contaminated water per day consumes more than 2,900 plastic particles per year. The scientists suspect that plastic particles can release toxins in the human body. Animal studies on this topic have already shown this. Good conditions for the release are present, for example, in the intestine. (Vb)