Microplastic flakes found in 'almost all' bottles of mineral water on sale

Researchers testing brands of bottled mineral water for traces of microplastic have found that ”almost all were contaminated to some degree” with potentially harmful particles.

​The flakes, which come from sources like cosmetics, clothing and industrial processes, were detected in almost all of the bottles of water tested by scientists at the State University of New York in Fredonia.

The team examined more than 250 bottles of water from 11 different brands from around the world in one of the biggest studies of its kind.

“We are becoming increasingly aware of microplastics in the environment and their potentially harmful effects, but their prevalence in other areas has been much less studied,” said Dr Andrew Mayes from The University of East Anglia, who reviewed the study.

“They have been reported in tap water, beer and many other foods, but I think that people will be surprised that almost all bottled water appears to be contaminated too.”

Dr Mayes and his team at UEA’s School of Chemistry pioneered a new method for detecting tiny bits of plastic that can be ingested and accumulate in the body.

He said that conventional methods would have been hugely time-consuming and prohibitively expensive, although the new technique uses dye to rapidly screen for the particles.

Their findings throw into question the merits of drinking bottled water over glasses straight from the tap and the daily hydration habits of millions consumers.

A spokesperson for the Natural Hydration Council, which has among its members Highland Spring and Danone Waters, said:

“Consumer health and safety is our top priority. We would like to reassure the public that all natural source bottled water is safe and is subject to significant testing, amounting to several hundreds of thousands of tests each year for every brand of bottled water sold in the UK. It has to be frequently tested at the ingredient level (the source) and finished product level (bottles) and it is not released for sale until the appropriate controls show it is safe for human consumption.

“A recent scientific study published in the peer-reviewed journal Water Research concluded that no statistically relevant amount of microplastic can be found in water in plastic bottles. The Orb Media report has not been independently evaluated by scientific peer review and needs further investigation.”