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from the does-this-taste-plasticky-to-you? dept.
Microplastics in water not harmful to humans, says WHO report
Microplastics are increasingly found in drinking water, but there is no evidence so far that this poses a risk to humans, according to a new assessment by the World Health Organization.
However, the United Nations body warned against complacency because more research is needed to fully understand how plastic spreads into the environment and works its way through human bodies.
There is no universally agreed definition of microplastics but they are generally considered to be smaller than half a millimetre across.
Plastic production has grown exponentially in recent decades and is predicted to double again by 2025, said the report, which means more beads and threads are breaking down into minute particles and winding up in water supplies, pipes, cups, throats and bellies. Studies suggest bottled drinking water even contains minuscule elements of the polymers used in the container and cap.
Also at CNN.
Related: Car Tyres Cause 55% of Microplastic Waste, According to Study
Paper on Microplastic's Harm to Fish Will Likely be Retracted
Microplastics Found in 90 Percent of Table Salt
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday August 22 2019, @01:43PM (4 children)
By then, scientists will figure out how to bond nutrients to the microplastics and we'll live on them.
Think of them as little washcloths for your innards, tirelessly keeping you clean.
(Score: 1) by NickM on Thursday August 22 2019, @09:22PM (1 child)
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday August 23 2019, @01:02AM
You can do either, just like baby diapers- buy disposables, or washables. It's up to you.
If you do nothing, they get returned to the environment where they are biologically neutralized by self-limiting bacteria, UV, ozone, cosmic rays, car exhaust, etc., and eventually they make it back into the food chain, thus becoming a welcome new part of the cycle of life.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 22 2019, @09:59PM (1 child)
You mean to wipe it clean? Liike with a cloth?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday August 23 2019, @12:58AM
Yes, exactly. I have some microfiber cleaning cloths and they work wonders on outsides, so why not use them for insides?