Tap Water Samples From Nations Around The World Are Contaminated With Plastic Fibres
In Brief
- The Facts:An investigation by Orb Media had tap water samples from more than a dozen nations around the world analyzed by scientists, and they found that a shocking 83 percent of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.
- Reflect On:Should plastic manufacturing be
illegal now, especially given the fact that it can be replaced
with a number of biodegradable options?
Water
is life, but you wouldn’t know that after witnessing what’s happening
around the world. We’re destroying our environment and constantly
releasing harmful toxins into the veins of Mother Earth, who can only
take so much.
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We have the ability and the technology
to clean up our water systems and start producing our products and
energy in clean green ways, but industry corruption and red-tape prolong
the process. At the same time, disease rates are rising at an
exponential rate, and it’s clear that multiple factors could be
contributing to this, including a lack of access to clean healthy water,
on a global scale.
A new investigation conducted by Orb Media, who shared their findings exclusively with The Guardian, had tap
water samples from more than a dozen nations around the world analyzed
by scientists, and they found that a shocking 83 percent of the samples
were contamiated with plastic fibres.
The scientists discovered that European
nations had the lowest contamination rate. Despite that, it was still
high at 72%. European nations that were tested include the UK, Germany
and France.
On the other hand, the US had the
highest rate of contamination, at a staggering 94%. Plastic fibres were
found in the drinking water of Trump Tower in New York, the US
Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, and at multiple other
sites, including Congress buildings.
This is a huge problem, and microplastic
contamination is now extremely widespread. Our oceans are littered with
plastic, which is killing whales and other marine mammals, and
contaminating fish. Previous studies have shown when people eat seafood,
they are also eating high levels of microplastics, not to mention
taking in a lot of mercury as well. (See The World Mercury Project)
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Dr. Sherri Mason, a microplastic expert
at the State University of New York in Fredonia, who supervised the
analyses for Orb, told the Guardian:
“We have enough data from
looking at wildlife, and the impacts that it’s having on wildlife, to be
concerned. If it’s impacting wildlife, then how do we think that it’s
not going to somehow impact us?”
The piece goes on to site another study
conducted in Ireland, where research also found a great deal of
microplastic contamination in a number of water and well samples.
According to the Guardian, Dr. Anne Marie Mahon, the lead other of that
study, said there were two concerns here:
“If the fibres are there, it is
possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can’t measure.
Once they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell
and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.”
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
a few years ago found that approximately 90 percent of the Earth’s
ocean surface is polluted with plastic debris. The study was conducted
by scientists from the University of Cadiz, Spain as well as the
University of Western Australia.
The study is based off of 3,070 total
ocean samples that were collected all around the globe, and the total
amount of plastic in the open-ocean surface is estimated to be between
approximately 7,000 and 35,000 tons. Although this amount is huge,
scientists were surprised as it is much lower than the amount they
expected.
The thing about microplastics is that
they can attract large amounts of bacteria that’s actually found in
sewage. According to Mahon, “some studies have shown there are more
harmful pathogens on microplastics downstream of wastewater treatment
plants.”
The Guardian lays it out well, and this
is definitely something to pay attention to because the scale of global
microplastic contamination is literally insane.
“Microplastics are also known to
contain and absorb toxic chemicals and research on wild animals shows
they are released in the body. Prof Richard Thompson, at Plymouth
University, UK, told Orb: “It became clear very early on that the
plastic would release those chemicals and that actually, the conditions
in the gut would facilitate really quite rapid release.” His research
has shown microplastics are found in a third of fish caught in the UK.”
Unfortunately it’s not just in water, it’s in our seafood, and it’s even found in beer, honey and sugar. Paris researchers in 2015 actually found microplastic samples falling from the air.
Is Bottled Water Any Better?
Apparently not, this Orb study also
found the same problem within bottled water, because, after all where
does it come from? And what is it bottled in!
“We are increasingly smothering
ecosystems in plastic and I am very worried that there may be all kinds
of unintended, adverse consequences that we will only find out about
once it is too late.” – Professor Roland Geyer to the Guardian, from the University of California and Santa Barbara, who led the study.
For more details, you can refer to this article: Study Finds More Than 24,000 Chemicals In Bottled Water: Which Ones Are Harming You?
Solutions?
The best solution is to completely
overhaul our planet, and start using clean and green biodegradable
substances, like hemp. Secondly, we need to utilize and expand upon
existing technologies that could help us clean up our oceans, and assist
the Earth in her cleansing strategies, whatever they are.
For example, years ago we published a story of then 19-year old, Boyan Slat, who developed a cleanup array to remove more than 7 million tons of plastic from the Earth’s oceans.
We also recently published a study about how two young surfers are cleaning up the ocean.
“It is now highly feasible to
take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any
have ever known. It no longer has to be you or me. Selfishness is
unnecessary. War is obsolete. It is a matter of converting the high
technology from weaponry to livingry.” -Buck-minister Fuller.”
Navy ships could develop a method for locating and dragging nets for
clean up, as various solutions exist that could be used and implemented.
I wish I had the answers, and could provide more solutions and
information on how we could do this. I know that if the world’s
‘leaders’ came together and really wanted to pool their resources to
clean up this planet, it could easily be done. Instead, they often pool
their resources to destroy it for our materialistic wants.The human race has become very detached from nature. We still don’t realize that our potential to create a world where everybody’s needs are provided for, where we live in balance with nature and all living things on the planet are infinite. We could easily utilize technology and human genius to live in a world where everybody can thrive, where we could take the human race out of its adolescence and into adulthood.
It can be done, and there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Our planet is currently experiencing a massive worldview transformation. We live in exciting times, so keep your head up, and be the change you wish to see in the world. It starts with you and your lifestyle.
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