The study revealed that on average, a one-liter bottle of water contains about a quarter million invisible plastic particles, or nanoplastics.
Plastic bottles are not only piling up in our landfills and oceans. Research shows they also shed invisible plastic particles that end up in our bodies.
When scientists first detected microplastics, they suspected the presence of even smaller particles. It took time to develop a tool that could identify nanoplastics given their size, says associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers University Phoebe Stapleton, who worked on the study.
A team at Columbia University developed a technique called stimulated Raman scattering that uses two lasers to identify the size and chemistry of the particle. Researchers looked at three brands of bottled water and found differences in what type of plastic had the highest percentage in each one, Stapleton says.
Tiny nanoplastics are small enough to bypass water filters, Stapleton says. Instead of catching the particles, water filters could start to introduce them, though more research is needed.
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