{"id":15973,"date":"2020-07-29T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/?p=15973"},"modified":"2024-07-23T18:01:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T16:01:28","slug":"plastic-all-around-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/plastic-all-around-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic all around\u2026 and inside us as well: Recent study by Orb Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plastic is really all around you. It is in your phone, clothes, or fridge. Oceans, rivers and lakes are full of plastic waste. Not to mention hundreds of tons of waste ending up on a rubbish dump. We live in a plastic age. And plastic is slowly getting into our bodies. How? By water, we are drinking.<\/h2>\n

Around 8 million tons<\/strong> of trash ends up in waterways yearly. Scientists for an investigation by Orb Media<\/a> therefore asked themselves: If microscopic plastic is in oceans<\/strong><\/a>, lakes, and rivers, is it in drinking water<\/strong> as well? Their question was studied and tested all around the world. The results are alarming.<\/p>\n

83% of samples worldwide contained microscopic plastic fibers<\/h2>\n
\"Micro
Microplastic in water, photo by Orbmedia.org<\/div><\/div>\n

More than 80% of samples collected on 5 continents tested positive on microscopic plastic fibers in tap water<\/strong>. Microplastics are formed from larger plastic pieces, which are broken down and eroded. They have been shown to absorb toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other illnesses<\/strong>. Yet, there are no specific procedures for filtering them.<\/p>\n

The US had the highest contamination rate: 94%<\/strong>. Lebanon and India<\/strong> had the next highest rates of 93.8% and 82.4%. Europe has the lowest contamination,<\/strong> however, it still has a lot- 72%<\/strong>. The average number of plastic fibers in 500ml of drinking water was from 4.8 in the US to 1.9 in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Plastic
Photo by SquareSpace via Pexels<\/div><\/div>\n

Scientists say that these numbers were found also in TOP US bottled water brands. They add, that bottled water is not an exception.<\/p>\n

Plastic cannot be destroyed and biodegraded. It will just break down into even smaller pieces, into particles on a nanometer scale \u2014 one-one thousandth of one-one thousandth of a millimeter. What does it mean for the human body? Particles of nanometer size can migrate through the intestinal wall and travel to the lymph nodes and other bodily organs.<\/p>\n

Scientists also claim, that if plastic is in your drinking water<\/strong>, it is definitely in your food as well<\/strong>. Whether the food is from your kitchen or a grocery store. It is very likely, that you are eating your pasta and sauce together with microscopic plastic fibers.<\/p>\n

Invisible plastic<\/h2>\n
\"plastic
Photo by Tanvi Sharma on Unsplash<\/div><\/div>\n

It is not only about plastic packages. There are so-called invisible plastic<\/strong>, which also affect the environment in a big scale.<\/p>\n