{"id":4809,"date":"2019-08-22T09:21:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T06:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=4809"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:29","slug":"micro-plastic-pollution-is-everywhere-but-not-necessarily-a-risk-to-human-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/08\/22\/micro-plastic-pollution-is-everywhere-but-not-necessarily-a-risk-to-human-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Micro Plastic Pollution Is Everywhere, But Not Necessarily A Risk To Human Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By UN News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its first summary of the latest research into the impact of the tiny plastic pollutants on humans, the World Health Organization (<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\">WHO<\/a>) said that they have been found in marine settings, waste and freshwater, food, the air and drinking water, both bottled and from a tap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frequently, microplastics are defined as less than five millimeters long, according to WHO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its report notes that the particles most commonly found in\ndrinking-water are plastic bottle fragments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBased on the limited information we have, microplastics in drinking water don\u2019t appear to pose a health risk at current levels. But we need to find out more,\u201d said Dr Maria Neira, WHO\u2019s Director, Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health. \u201cWe urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere &#8211; including in our drinking water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Microplastics in drinking water don\u2019t appear to pose a health risk at current levels. But we need to find out more &#8211;\u00a0<em>WHO Director, Dr. Maria Neira<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to WHO\u2019s findings, microplastics larger than 150 micrometers (a micrometer is a millionth of a meter) are unlikely to be absorbed in the human body, while the uptake of smaller particles is likely to be limited.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Absorption of microplastic particles \u201cincluding in the Nano-size range may, however, be higher\u201d, the WHO report continues, before cautioning that available data in this \u201cemerging area\u201d is extremely limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked by journalists about how levels of plastic pollutants\ndiffer between tap water and bottled water, WHO\u2019s Jennifer de France from WHO\u2019s\nDepartment of Public Health, replied that bottled water \u201cin general did contain\nhigher particle numbers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonetheless, Ms. France also cautioned against jumping to\nconclusions, owing to the lack of available data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn drinking water in general, often the two polymers that were\nmost frequently detected were polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and\npolypropylene,\u201d she said. \u201cNow these polymers \u2013 the polyethylene terephthalate\n&#8211; is often used in producing bottled water bottles, and polypropylene, is often\nused in producing caps. However, there were other polymers detected as well, so\nmore studies are needed to really make a firm conclusion about where the\nsources are coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While citing the handful of available studies into the\nabsorption of micro plastics and Nano plastics in rats and mice, which showed\nsymptoms including inflammation of the liver, WHO\u2019s report insists that people\nare unlikely to be exposed to such high levels of pollutants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Drinking-water contamination: a&nbsp;million lives lost each\nyear<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A much more clearly understood potential threat than micro\nplastics is exposure to drinking-water contaminated by human or animal waste,\nsaid Bruce Gordon, from WHO\u2019s Department of Public Health, highlighting a\nproblem that affects two billion people and claims one million lives a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One way that Governments can tackle this problem is by putting\nin place better waste-water filtration systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move would reduce micro plastic pollution by around 90 per\ncent, the WHO official explained, before noting that the report had touched on\npeople\u2019s wider concerns about how to live more sustainably and waste less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cConsumers shouldn\u2019t be too worried,\u201d Mr. Gordon said. \u201cThere\u2019s\nmany dimensions to this story that are beyond health. What I&nbsp;mean by that\nis, if you are a concerned citizen worried about plastic pollution and you have\naccess to a well-managed piped supply &#8211; a water supply &#8211; why not drink from\nthat? Why not reduce pollution. Of course, there are times when you need a water\nbottle when you\u2019re walking around, but please reuse it\u201d, he emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read <a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2019\/08\/1044661\">original article<\/a> on UN News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By UN News In its first summary of the latest research into the impact of the tiny plastic pollutants on humans, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that they have&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}