Bottled Water Worldwide
It is obvious that being reliant on water is a necessity to survive. Water is the beginning of all life, and without it, there would be no life. Therefore, it is incredibly important to have water that is as clean, and as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, there are a lot of areas where plastic in water is very common. Therefore, drinking this tap or bottled water, can be very dangerous for the health of a human being. That is why water filters have become a prevalent item, as they ensure that the water that people are drinking is safe, and healthy.
Nano Plastics in Bottled Water
Being that filters exist around the world, not many people actually have access to them. Additionally, they may be away from home, where many people have their water filters. Therefore, they have to rely on water bottles to receive the healthy water they need to function.
However, there has been new studies that have been released that indicate that there could be 10 to 100 times more plastic in bottled water than was estimated previously. That being said, it is obvious that the water people are drinking may not be completely filtered and may still contain very harmful plastics that can destroy the body over time.
What Are Nano Plastics Linked To?
Nano plastics are incredibly harmful, more harmful than many people may think. These types of plastics are linked primarily to fertility issues, as well as different cancers of the body. That is why it is incredibly important that people do not consume these plastics, in order to avoid health issues of this kind.
However, being able to avoid these plastics is seemingly impossible. This is so because of their size. They are 1,000th the width of just one human hair, and they have to be measured in billionths. This just goes to show exactly how small they are, and still inflict a large amount of damage to their host.
How Small Are They?
They are so small, in fact, that they can easily make their way into the bloodstream. This can cause health issues over time. Beizhan Yan of Columbia University has been studying nano plastics, and concluded that they are so small, they “can cross into the blood, and then can cross the different barriers to get into the cells.”
Therefore, it is imperative that action be taken to reduce the number of nano plastics that are in bottled water. However, this is a much harder task than previously thought. Nano plastics are way smaller than it seems many microscopes are able to look at. This makes it all the more dangerous to humans in general. However, if in the future there were some sort of updated technology that can make it easier to locate nano plastics and destroy them, it would surely change the outlook on bottled waters.
However, if this is the case, it will certainly take time to invent a piece of technology that can zoom into such a high magnitude.
The Future of Nano Plastics and Bottled Water
Many people are completely reliant on bottled water to receive their source of H2O. However, due to these nano plastics, it is going to be harder for people to trust these sources completely.
Moreover, these types of things need to be addressed, because if not, more people will die because of chronic diseases caused by nano plastics. Therefore, if action is taken in time, less people will die, and more people will live longer, more prosperous lives for years to come.
Written by David Loran Jr
Sources:
CNN Health: Bottled water contains thousands of nanoplastics so small they can invade the body’s cells, study says
DailyMail: Average bottle of water contains 240,000 pieces of cancer-causing nanoplastics – 100 times more than previously thought
Microsoft Start: Bottled water contains hundreds of thousands of potentially dangerous plastic fragments: Study
Featured Image Courtesy of Myrtle Beach TheDigitel’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of The Revelator’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License