microplastic They are everywhere. From blood to breast milk, they are found in virtually all human fluids and organs. Also in remote places on planet Earth. Therefore, the presence microplastics in water It’s no surprise that we drink. Despite this, we can hope that the quality control and filtration methods that drinking water undergoes will work their magic and prevent these particles from reaching us. This was our peace of mind; But apparently these microplastics are so small that they are undetectable.
This is the conclusion of a study conducted by French scientists. It analyzes the presence of microplastics in water, both draft and bottled. Quality control European Union (EU) focus on microplastic particle analysis with diameters from 20 to 5000 microns. These scientists suspected that this could be a dangerous limit, since particles smaller than 20 microns have the ability to pass through the intestinal wall and reach the blood. They are even more dangerous to our health.
To test whether the EU was falling short, they used more precise methods capable of detecting microplastics in water with a diameter of above 1 µm. And imagine his surprise when he discovered that indeed, in the two types of water analyzed, the concentration of these tiny microplastics was very high.
Statement on microplastics in water
In fact, there is no strict regulation of the concentration of microplastics in water. Each brand has its own recommendations. Therefore, to unify the protocols, the EU developed its own project Directive 2020/2184 on the quality of consumed water. This created a methodological approach aimed at detecting microplastics of the aforementioned sizes.
This is not an appropriate limit
To test whether the EU Directive sets an appropriate limit, the scientists involved in this study took samples bottled water from 10 different brands and, in addition, a sample of tap water.
All of them have been analyzed Raman spectroscopya method that detects very small particles. In this case, up to 1 micron.
Thus, they saw that 98% and 94% of microplastics in bottled water were measured less than 20 µm and 10 µm respectively. As for tap water taken directly from their laboratory located in… city of ToulouseThe concentration of microplastics was higher than in 8 out of 10 brands of bottled water.
This is a very high concentration, which may be due to the local water purification method. In Toulouse, drinking water is obtained by purification surface waters of the Garonne River. This river may contain very large amounts of microplastics from human activity, and if cleaning methods are not accurate, many small particles may pass through it.
In fact, to check if this could be the reason, these scientists compared their results with the results of another similar study conducted. in Denmark. In this case, drinking water was obtained by purifying groundwater. The concentration of microplastics was 10 times lower than in Toulouse.

But putting that aside, it is clear that the methods set by the European Union to detect microplastics in drinking water fall short of expectations. For this reason, the authors of this study recommend the use of other protocols, such as the one they established.
Are we at risk from microplastics in water?
It should be noted that the actual extent of the microplastic problem for human health is not clear. So far it has not been possible to carry out long-term training which compares the health effects of exposure to different levels of microplastics. All we know is that they accumulate in our bodies in one way or another, but there is no data on the extent to which they influence the health problems we may develop.
There are experts who urge caution, arguing that we may need much higher concentrations of microplastics to truly feel the full impact of them. Others, however, believe that we may already be in danger.
One thing is clear: we should not tempt fate and the more measures we take to avoid swallowing them, the better. It starts with reduce plastic usebecause they come back to us one way or another. Not to mention all the bad things they do to ecosystems. But in addition to this initial measure, it is also important that institutions take measures like the one proposed by the authors of this new study. The more precise the quality control, the better.
Source: Hiper Textual
