Baby Bottles Can Shed Millions of Microplastic Particles: Study

The project did not assess any implications for children’s health, but the authors recommend changing up how parents use baby bottles to reduce the amount of plastic in formula or breastmilk.

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DELMAINE DONSON

Plastic has long been a major source of pollution in landfills and in oceans, especially as it degrades into pieces smaller than 5 millimeters, termed “microplastics.” Experimental studies have shown that these particles and the cocktail of chemicals they carry can wreak havoc on physiology, reproduction, development, and behavior in a number of nonhuman species.

Scientists have found evidence that humans also drink, eat, and inhale tens of thousands of microplastics each year, and a study published today (October 19) in Nature Food estimates that babies may be ingesting up to 16 million microplastic particles per liter of baby formula prepared using a polypropylene bottle.

In our example, the microplastics are generated by the utensils you’re using during the food preparation process. There’s an immediacy to the presence of microplastics, and that’s a first.

The researchers followed the World Health Organization’s protocol for preparing baby formula ...

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Meet the Author

  • Max Kozlov

    Max is a science journalist from Boston. Though he studied cognitive neuroscience, he now prefers to write about brains rather than research them. Prior to writing for The Scientist as an editorial intern in late 2020 and early 2021, Max worked at the Museum of Science in Boston, where his favorite part of the job was dressing in a giant bee costume and teaching children about honeybees. He was also a AAAS Mass Media Fellow, where he worked as a science reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Read more of his work at www.maxkozlov.com.

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