Scientists make disturbing new discovery while testing drinking water: ‘No place left … that’s not contaminated’. “A very pervasive problem.”
Scientists have found a new way to detect the smallest and most dangerous microplastics in our drinking water and are calling on the European Union to update its drinking water limits.
What’s happening?
A team of scientists used a new method to analyze microplastics in both bottled and tap water in Toulouse, France, and found a range of 72 to 4,368 microplastic particles per gallon. Euronews summarized the findings, explaining that most of these were “fine microplastics,” which the researchers defined as particles measuring under 20 microns.
The European Union currently has a detection limit of 20 microns, which first author Oskar Hagelskjaer told the publication “makes very little sense” in light of the findings.
The authors stated in the study’s abstract, “Importantly, 98 and 94% of [microplastics] measured less than 20 and 10 [microns] in diameter, respectively, demonstrating the importance of small [microplastic] inclusion in potable water analyses and regulation.”
Bethanie Carney Almroth, a Sweden-based ecotoxicology expert, called microplastics “a very pervasive problem,” in response to the study, telling Euronews that there’s “no place left on the planet that’s not contaminated.”
