In a new study by researchers at Rutgers and Columbia universities, high amounts of plastic particles were found in bottled water. On average, one liter of water contained around 240,000 detectable plastic fragments, 10 to 100 times greater than previous estimates.
In an interview with NJ Spotlight News, the study’s co-author Phoebe Stapleton, an associate professor in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at the Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and resident scientist in the Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, said that “reducing bottled water use not only reduces the chance of this ingestion but also reduces that single use risk as well. I think at the moment we’re just ahead of the game for policymakers and regulation that we know that they’re there and I’m not sure it’s wise to wait for all of the health effects before we start to wonder if they should be there.”
