ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, TUNATURA
The minuscule bits of plastic invisibly bobbing around in drinking water do not pose a threat to human health, according to a World Health Organization assessment published yesterday (August 21).
Microplastics are those anywhere in size from 100 nanometers to 5 millimeters wide—though there’s no official definition. According to the WHO report, the plastic particles get into drinking water through run-off and wastewater effluent, and those found in bottled water may have something to do with the bottling process, Reuters reports.
Scientists and consumers have been concerned that chemicals found in plastics or pathogens might make their way into the body via microplastics and cause damage, as The Guardian reports. Yet that fear is not backed by science, according to the report.
“[J]ust because we’re ingesting them doesn’t mean we have a risk to human health,” Bruce Gordon, WHO’s coordinator of water, sanitation, and hygiene, tells ...
