Posted on 09/06/2017 6:15:56 PM PDT by Ennis85
Microscopic pieces of plastic have infiltrated tap water systems around the world, according to new research on worldwide water systems.
According to Orb Media, a non-profit data journalism newsroom in Washington, 83 percent of the tap water sampled globally was contained with microscopic plastic particles.
The U.S. had the highest contamination rate at 94 percent, and water sampled from Europe to India and in parts of the Middle East had plastic contamination above 70 percent, according to the Orb study.
Sites sampled in the U.S. included “Congress buildings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters and Trump Towers,” the Guardian reported.
Most research to this point has concentrated on massive plastic garbage patches in the world’s oceans, and the impact of tiny pieces of plastic from those huge patches on marine life, which people then eat. But the impact of drinking microplastic particles on humans is still unknown.
“We have enough data from looking at wildlife, and the impacts that it’s having on wildlife, to be concerned,” Dr Sherri Mason, a microplastic expert at the State University of New York in Fredonia, and a supervisor on the study for Orb, told the Guardian.
“If it’s impacting [wildlife], then how do we think that it’s not going to somehow impact us?”
Researchers don’t know exactly how the tiny pieces of plastic are entering the water tables that cities use for tap water, but tons of plastic fibers from clothes discharged in wastewater, mishandled plastic waste, synthetic fibers in the atmosphere, tire dust washed into storm drains and streams are a few of the possible ways such large-scale contamination could be occurring.
According to a 2013 report, 300 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide every year, and millions of tons end up in the oceans and landfills.
(Excerpt) Read more at kiro7.com ...
That MUST be why we are living longer. The plastic helps our digestion.
Damn all that Tupperware....
Sounds like total BS to me and is probably rooted in the lobbiests for the bottled water industry that puts tap water in plastic bottles, to sell for many times the cost of the same amount of water people can get from their own taps.
I understand using bottled water if you live in an area where the water has a high mineral content or foul taste.
I live in an area that has great tasting tap water, but I still see people at the grocery buying jugs and large shrink-wrapped bundles of dozens of bottles of water.
Easy to identify them as lib/dems who have moved into my area. Not kidding, as I see them buying stuff like hummus, sushi, etc., instead of steaks, ribs, etc., like most Texans.
Also, why filter whole house? I bet 95% of house water isn't going into us.
Plastic is organic
Mother earth is organic
Plastic is therefore not harmful
My water is incredibly pure. Live in the country, in the woods that was untouched for over 100 years, water comes from a 500’ deep well.
PhD soil scientist says water is 10,000 years old and is far from the water table and not affected by anything near the surface.
We are grateful. Very grateful. I do drink bottled water - rarely - when necessary - away from home.
OK, I agree that darn cap is really hard to open.
I don’t care what other people choose to buy to eat or drink, with their own money. It’s really not anyone else’s business. It’s also a pretty unkind way to judge another’s politics. I buy bottled water and I enjoy sushi ( lived in Japan for 3 years) but I assure you I am no liberal. Making assumptions based on what’s in someone’s grocery cart does seems like a poor way to judge a person’s character, even for a Texan ( by the way I’ve lived there too)
“the impact of drinking microplastic particles on humans is still unknown”
UNKNOWN! Could just be “in one end and out the other”.
Plastic
When I was young the city we lived near took away my grandparents farm by eminent domain and turned it into the city dump. We moved across the street. Within about 10 years our well water became fouled because the city was allowing businesses and people to dump hazardous waste directly onto the ground. Everyone in our family has thyroid problems which may be related.
After a few years the EPA made the city start providing us with bottled water, but the water we used for bathing, washing our clothes and feeding our animals still smelled bad. The largest concentrations of contaminants were found to be from dry cleaning fluid. The city has never admitted any wrong doing and no lawsuits were ever filed. But they had to do a lot of cleanup work.
This greenie scaremongering nonsense is becoming tiresome.
Please, stop posting such perpetual BS.
I'm so sorry about the health problems your family is dealing with. My sister-in-law had thyroid problems beginning as a teen and it caused her grief and pain much of her life, so I understand what your family is dealing with.
I'm fortunate in that our tap water is relatively pure and clean. Most of the dumps around here were shut down over the last few decades, and were built over with mini-malls and stores. Now a lot of people aren't aware of all the toxics buried under where they shop and live. There's a farm next to the former dump site near where I live, but fortunately they only grow flowers. In the past, all garbage whether toxic or not went into the same pit. Now it's better managed and toxics are separated prior to processing. Still, the old practices left bad crap in the ground where people live. My brother-in-law can't dig in his back yard without finding a lot of broken glass; his block is on the site of former greenhouses, and wood, concrete and glass from demolition was pretty much left there in the ground when homes were built on it. At least it isn't toxic.
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