New study reveals huge scale of microplastics release from plastic products

Stockholm, October 20, 2020 – Bluewater says a new study by researchers at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, that reveals babies are swallowing millions of micro and nano plastics every day underlines the urgent need to get to grips with the issue of what toxins and pathogens from plastics are being ingested by humans and the potential health consequences.

“It is deeply worrying that growing evidence points to huge amount of microplastics being ingested every day by humans using plastic containers, yet so little is understood about their potential risk to human health,” said Bluewater spokesperson David Noble, PR and Communications Director. He noted how just a year ago, the WHO estimated adults were consuming up to 600 million microplastics a day.

The new study by Trinity College scientists, which has been published in the journal Nature Food.found that the potential exposure of infants to microplastics from consuming formula prepared in polypropylene (PP) infant feeding bottles is higher than was previously recognized. The researchers concluded that there was ‘an urgent need to assess whether exposure to microplastics at these levels poses a risk to infant health’.

In a 2019 White Paper, Bluewater and the Lisbon-based Mirpuri Foundation concluded that plastics pollution posed the #1 threat to human kind because of the way it contributes to the release of so-called Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, or EDC’s, into the natural environment. EDC’s block the way hormones function naturally, triggering abnormal development and illnesses ranging from stunted fertility and male/female sex malformations to obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart attacks.

Dr Yvonne Mirpuri, who is one of the world’s top medical experts on human hormones and how they are being disrupted by toxic chemicals, believes that humankind ‘faces extinction within 200 years unless steps are urgently taken to reduce the use of synthetic plastics and the chemicals in them’.

The extent of the plastics problem has been neatly summarized by the UN. The world body’s former environment chief Erik Solheim, winner of UNEP’s Champion of the Earth and TIME Magazine’s Hero of the Environment awards, has said the planet ‘is on the edge of a global plastic calamity’ and he called on consumers, business and governments to cut consumption of single-use, throwaway plastics or face the worst of outcomes.

“The evidence is now pretty overwhelming that micro and nano plastics contaminate the food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink. The latest research by Trinity College is a wake-up call that shows food and liquid preparation in plastic containers may lead to exposure thousands of times higher than previously thought. For the sake of future generations, we urgently need health studies into the implications of such plastics exposure,” said David Noble.

Notes to editors

ABOUT MIRPURI FOUNDATION

The Mirpuri Foundation was established by its President Paulo Mirpuri with the commitment to make the world a better place for future generations. The non-profit organization partners with governments, businesses, communities, and individuals to address a range of projects in Marine Conservation, Wildlife Preservation, Aerospace, Medical Research, Performing Arts and Social Responsibility. Earth and ocean sustainability have been granted special attention and Mirpuri Foundation has put into practice several campaigns to raise awareness towards current challenges and emerging threats. For more information, please visit www.mirpurifoundation.org

ABOUT BLUEWATER

At Bluewater, we care about goes into our oceans because we care about what goes into our bodies when drinking or washing with water. Bluewater has put banishing single-use plastics at the heart of its business mission with ingenious planet-friendly water purification, dispensing, and bottle solutions to generate and serve pure water at home, work, and when on the go. Bluewater purification products remove over 99% of all known contaminants from lead to chemicals and microplastics and are available in major markets globally, for a healthier planet. www.bluewatergroup.com