Scientists have made a disturbing discovery: human brains contain microplastics, and at higher concentrations than other organs. Worse, brain levels have jumped 50% in just eight years.
"Bottled water alone can expose people to nearly as many microplastic particles annually as all ingested and inhaled sources combined,” said Brandon Luu, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Toronto. “Switching to tap water could reduce this exposure by almost 90%, making it one of the simplest ways to cut down on microplastic intake.”
Dunno if anyone reading this is still drinking bottled water, but, uh, now you have another reason to not do that.
Yes but to a much lesser extent. The act of merely breaking the seal on the cap injects a lot of plastic into the liquid, so skipping that has to count for something
You’re right, I misremembered It’s not just about breaking the seal on the cap, the mere friction of the cap on the bottle adds the bulk of microplastics found within
I was thinking of an article from years ago where they were talking about macro plastics nearly visible to the eye getting into the liquid from breaking the seal. Can’t seem to find it now though
You have to remember that plastic containers aren’t washed before they are filled with product. That’s often where much of the micro/nano plastics come from.
That would seem to be the explanation on the face of it. Piping is made from heavier duty plastic. But I’ve heard that PVC can start leaking some nasty chemicals over the decades. Is that better or worse than microplastics?
I started putting aluminum foil, folded a few times to the size of a typical card, in my wallet, in each flap… a year or two after credit and debit cards started getting RFID chips (the things that let you tap as oppose to swipe), and thus could be scanned and cloned by a guy walking around with a device in their backpack… and one of my cards was cloned this way.
Everyone called me paranoid.
Faraday cages block radio signals… RFID works via radio signals.
Then, that form of cloning cards became more popular, and now, most wallets just feature a bit of metallic weave or layer in them somewhere to prevent that, or the ekster and ridge wallets that just are metal.
Get a ceramic mug, or canteen/water bottle with an aluminum or stainless steel internal lining, drink your tap water out of that, filter it if your tap quality sucks.
I assume soda and other bottled drinks are included in this warning, as well as any other container lined with plastic, and I think some canned drinks and food are….which, uh, sucks.
This would mean any liquid in plastic is a large source. Bottled water has other options, not so much the rest. I mean they could have different packaging and some do, but cost is a reason plastic is primarily used.
Especially things with carbonic or citric acid are probably even worse here
Edit: and we need to keep in mind, the aluminium cans also have a plastic liner inside. So those probably aren’t better either…
Shit thing, that glass is so heavy to move around.
And pretty much everything is stored in large plastic containers during production, until it’s filled into whatever.
Not sure how we can actually get around this.
The best thing we can do, is probably just reducing the plastic intake, by avoiding plastic bottles, as they are much more prone to decay due to UV light and long term storage.
I have one of those fancy vacuum bottles. As far as I’m aware the only plastic is a small ring for the seal, which isn’t in contact with the water. What do you think? Is my brain double plastic?
I got a soda stream with glass bottles. You can make soda from fruit (lemons and oranges are especially delicious - plus I can control whatever sweetener I use). Also, if you really want cola, then you can get concentrated syrup so there’s less plastic and liquid transport overall.
Aluminum cans have a plastic liner in them to protect the metal from the acidic soda, but I’m not sure if it leaches in the same way as plastic bottles.
A relative bright spot amidst a sea of bad news:
Dunno if anyone reading this is still drinking bottled water, but, uh, now you have another reason to not do that.
Would my plastic water bottle (reusable) be a problem?
Yes but to a much lesser extent. The act of merely breaking the seal on the cap injects a lot of plastic into the liquid, so skipping that has to count for something
Honestly, I’m not saying that you’re lying but that’s very hard to accept as truth. Would you have a good source for learning about all this?
You’re right, I misremembered It’s not just about breaking the seal on the cap, the mere friction of the cap on the bottle adds the bulk of microplastics found within
I was thinking of an article from years ago where they were talking about macro plastics nearly visible to the eye getting into the liquid from breaking the seal. Can’t seem to find it now though
Thanks that’s very useful and good to know.
The thing is that most of our piping is plastic. So how is tap water so much better?
You have to remember that plastic containers aren’t washed before they are filled with product. That’s often where much of the micro/nano plastics come from.
Do you have a source on that? I find it hard to believe we put water into unsanitized bottles.
That’s interesting and sounds about right. Do you have any links on this subject?
On average, disposable plastic bottles shed microplastics much more prolifically than plastic water piping.
That would seem to be the explanation on the face of it. Piping is made from heavier duty plastic. But I’ve heard that PVC can start leaking some nasty chemicals over the decades. Is that better or worse than microplastics?
They won’t think it was suicide if I keep drinking bottled water.
I’ve been drinking exclusively from a water bottle with a filter for a few years at this point and it feels less and less paranoid.
I started putting aluminum foil, folded a few times to the size of a typical card, in my wallet, in each flap… a year or two after credit and debit cards started getting RFID chips (the things that let you tap as oppose to swipe), and thus could be scanned and cloned by a guy walking around with a device in their backpack… and one of my cards was cloned this way.
Everyone called me paranoid.
Faraday cages block radio signals… RFID works via radio signals.
Then, that form of cloning cards became more popular, and now, most wallets just feature a bit of metallic weave or layer in them somewhere to prevent that, or the ekster and ridge wallets that just are metal.
And what about plastic bottles. Like, not the packaging type but just plastic reusable waterbottles?
They are bad.
Get a ceramic mug, or canteen/water bottle with an aluminum or stainless steel internal lining, drink your tap water out of that, filter it if your tap quality sucks.
I assume soda and other bottled drinks are included in this warning, as well as any other container lined with plastic, and I think some canned drinks and food are….which, uh, sucks.
This would mean any liquid in plastic is a large source. Bottled water has other options, not so much the rest. I mean they could have different packaging and some do, but cost is a reason plastic is primarily used.
Especially things with carbonic or citric acid are probably even worse here
Edit: and we need to keep in mind, the aluminium cans also have a plastic liner inside. So those probably aren’t better either…
Shit thing, that glass is so heavy to move around.
And pretty much everything is stored in large plastic containers during production, until it’s filled into whatever.
Not sure how we can actually get around this.
The best thing we can do, is probably just reducing the plastic intake, by avoiding plastic bottles, as they are much more prone to decay due to UV light and long term storage.
But well, I guess, we’re fucked here as well
I have one of those fancy vacuum bottles. As far as I’m aware the only plastic is a small ring for the seal, which isn’t in contact with the water. What do you think? Is my brain double plastic?
Plastic sealed brain is better protected?
Brain has plasticity (changes). Just my little joke.
I got a soda stream with glass bottles. You can make soda from fruit (lemons and oranges are especially delicious - plus I can control whatever sweetener I use). Also, if you really want cola, then you can get concentrated syrup so there’s less plastic and liquid transport overall.
Yeah, having the same thing at home
But I still like beer, fruit juices (and not just syrups) and so on
But the soda stream is quite in use by my wife
glass bottled soda > canned soda > plastic contained soda or fountain drinks
… maybe we will end up with a bottlecap psuedo currency after all.
Aluminum cans have a plastic liner in them to protect the metal from the acidic soda, but I’m not sure if it leaches in the same way as plastic bottles.