LETTER

Drinking bottled water, we’re drinking microplastics 

Every day, we are ingesting tiny, microscopic bits of plastic – “microplastics” – with our food, beverages and even the air we breathe. North Americans eat, drink and breathe between 74,000 and 121,000 microplastic particles each year depending on their age and sex, according to new research in the journal “Environmental Science & Technology”.

Today anyone who drinks bottled water instead of tap water can add up to 90,000 plastic particles to their annual total, according to the study.

The impact on health is unknown.  Some particles are small enough to enter our tissues, where they can trigger immune reactions, or release toxic substances, heavy metals and pollutants absorbed from the environment.

Not only do animals also ingest tiny plastic particles in their environments, but microplastics contaminate our food during production and packaging. The global bottled market tops $200 billion. The average American swallows 30 gallons of bottled water a year, no figures for Canada.

So I ask, are we poisoning ourselves, one bottle at a time? Wouldn’t we all be better off drinking tap water? 

Gerald Read

Aylmer