by Drinks that are sold in glass bottles such as soda, wine or beer can contain more microplastic particles than those in plastic, a surprising new study published by France’s Food Safety Agency.
Microplastics, several times smaller than the width of a single human hair tribute, form in smaller pieces over time and are in the environment and in the body of people and other species.
They were found almost everywhere and the clouds, the deepest parts of the ocean and on the sides of the highest mountains in the world.
A growing group of studies warns that exposure to these particles over the air we breathe, and the food we eat could be associated with serious health conditions such as strokes, hormone disorders and several types of cancer.
Scientists hope to better understand the prevalence of this potentially poisonous particle and the way in which people are exposed to them. Earlier examinations have found direct evidence that combine a key component of plastic bottles with an increased risk of diabetes.
A new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis has now found that microplastics themselves are widespread in drinks that were sold in glass bottles.
Researchers, including those of ANSES of French food safety, found an average of around 100 microplastic particles per liter in glass bottles with soft drinks, lemonade, tea and beer.
This could be five to 50 times higher than the rate in plastic bottles or metal cans, say scientists.
“Against intuitive drinks that were sold in glass bottles were more contaminated by microplastics,” she wrote in the study.
“We expected the opposite result,” Iine Chaib, one of the authors of the new study, told AFP.
The study could not directly determine whether there was a health risk due to the consumption of such drinks that are sold in glass bottles or not due to the lack of toxicological data.
Scientists found that the microplastic particles in the glass bottles of the color and polymer composition of the color corresponded to their caps, which pointed out that this was probably the main source of contamination.
They recommend that the manufacturers of glass bottles clean new capsules before limiting the bottles to reduce microplastic contamination.
“Preparations for new capsules by blowing out and rinsing with water/ethanol/water has significantly reduced the number of deputies (microplastics) per capsized bottle, with it reduced by about three compared to untreated capsules,” said the scientists.
The researchers suspect that the capsules used to cover glass bottles are probably abrasion and surface friction, while they collide during storage and transport, which dragged their particles into bottles.
“Cleaning seems to be essential and could minimize the contamination of the liquid in the bottle by color particles that are available in the capsule,” they added.
