Microplastics are everywhere and drinking water is no exception. In effect, most mineral water bottles contain microplasticsaccording to a study by the association Acting for the environment published this Thursday morning.
Water bottles of different brands analyzed
The association had several bottles, of several different brands, analyzed by a specialized laboratory. The sample selected is made up of bottles of Badoit, Carrefour (Source Montclar), Cristaline, Evian (100% recycled bottle in 0.50 cl and 1 liter bottle), Perrier (blue bottle “Fine bubbles “), Vittel (1 liter and Vittel Kids in 0.33 cl) and Volvic.
Among the nine bottles of mineral water analyzed, seven contain microplasticsaccording to the results of this study.
These are particles of less than 5 millimeters and the quantities are often small but very variable, ranging from 1 to 121 microparticles per litre. For example, the small bottle for children from the Vittel brand contains much more than the others. Conversely, there is none in the water in Volvic brand bottles.
The main plastics found are Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).
Contamination linked to “the degradation of plastic”
According to Magali Ringoot, of the association Agir pour l’environnement, “contamination comes from the packaging, be it the bottle, cap or cap“. She continues: “Plastic has nothing to do with bottled water. Additives are subject to industrial secrecy so we don’t know exactly what chemical cocktail we are exposed to.”
In effect, the plastic of the cap or bottle can fragment into micro debris and spread in the water. According to Nathalie Gontard, packaging specialist at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae), “Plastic degrades inexorably and it starts degrading even before we start consuming the water.”
A lack of scientific knowledge on the health impact of microplastics
The degradation of plastic generates a “more insidious pollution because less visible but much more “contaminating”” according to the authors of the report, because microplastics “are able to infiltrate everywhere: in the water cycle, soils, fauna, and the food chain to the human body.”
If there is a lot of scientific evidence on the proven presence of microplastics in the human body, “there are still very few studies on their health impacts and their accumulation in the human body” say the authors of the report. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers urgent “to fill serious gaps in scientific knowledge” on the subject.
However, animal studies suggest “a harmfulness of the ingestion of micro and nanoparticles of plastic on the intestinal microbiota, the metabolism or the brain” warns the report of the association Agir pour l’environnement.