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Science Nano plastics and bottled water

Juicewrldfan

Juicewrldfan

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Dec 10, 2022
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So, I may be late to this, but I just read that Columbia University did a study that found an extremely high amount of nanoplastics in bottled water from three supposedly “top” brands.

I couldn’t find the study yet. I googled it and got a ton of “news” links. And then found one from the university that did the study so I’ll link that at least.

What does that mean if anything in your opinion? So much fear mongering out there but I feel like this can be a serious thing.

Or is it a secret plot so that the government can taint our water with something that makes us more idk submissive and docile lol. I know far fetched. Had to put a spin on it.

I wasn’t really sure where to put this, because I was hoping for someone to be able to give feedback that has knowledge in it.
 
Certain varieties of plastic are better than others as far as preventing contamination, like high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

Unfortunately the real explanation is far less interesting and far more depressing than the comic-book narratives we’re all forced to endure in this stupid modern era, involving some evil people in the gov’t rubbing their hands together and concocting evil plans to screw people. Plastic had some real benefits…it could be mass produced, molded into all kinds of fun shapes and if it broke who cares, it’s f’n plastic. But unfortunately, as with other things that seem too good to be true, there were unforeseen and unintended consequences. A lot of people nowadays have a real problem with the concept of an “unintended consequences” but yeah.

We’re aware of the problems now but often people dither and drag their feet when it comes to making difficult but necessary choices. The plastic industry represents a lot of money…wherever you are, just take a look around and notice everything that is either made of plastic or contains some kind of plastic component, it’s everywhere. So many problems in modern life come down to factors which could not be any more (tragically) human and banal, like greed and indecisiveness, but people prefer to ascribe out-there conspiratorial notions of extreme malice and sociopathy which are more akin to narratives from comic books than real life.
 
There really is no use for plastic water bottles tho. Plenty of alternatives, from kelp-derived bioplastics to good ol glass (no shortage of sand in the world after all)

www.popsci.com

Why seaweed is a natural fit for replacing certain plastics

More than half of the finalists for the Tom Ford and Lonely Whale Plastic Innovation Prize used seaweed or some other kind of algae in their bioplastic products.
www.popsci.com www.popsci.com
 
Burnt Offerings said:
Certain varieties of plastic are better than others as far as preventing contamination, like high-density polyethylene (HDPE).

Unfortunately the real explanation is far less interesting and far more depressing than the comic-book narratives we’re all forced to endure in this stupid modern era, involving some evil people in the gov’t rubbing their hands together and concocting evil plans to screw people. Plastic had some real benefits…it could be mass produced, molded into all kinds of fun shapes and if it broke who cares, it’s f’n plastic. But unfortunately, as with other things that seem too good to be true, there were unforeseen and unintended consequences. A lot of people nowadays have a real problem with the concept of an “unintended consequences” but yeah.

We’re aware of the problems now but often people dither and drag their feet when it comes to making difficult but necessary choices. The plastic industry represents a lot of money…wherever you are, just take a look around and notice everything that is either made of plastic or contains some kind of plastic component, it’s everywhere. So many problems in modern life come down to factors which could not be any more (tragically) human and banal, like greed and indecisiveness, but people prefer to ascribe out-there conspiratorial notions of extreme malice and sociopathy which are more akin to narratives from comic books than real life.
Click to expand...
I agree that what I said was bs regarding the conspiracy but I’m sure you caught I was joking so I guess I just wanted to clarify.

I guess what I’m saying is do you really think it’s that dangerous or we just do t have any real way of knowing yet? I thought it could be hypothesized, but I do not have a great understanding of these kind of things.
 
i've tasted some bottled water that is just bad. doesn't happen very often and there was only one time that wasn't when i left the water in a hot car or on my front porch which gets pretty hot which i noticed water taste bad, one time one of my local grocery stores gallons of water were just terrible plastic tasting for like months. i remember getting some of them and telling my father to never get those again. i went to try the same brands water a couple months later and it still tasted bad.

usually bottled water is really refreshing though. i feel like a person should be able to taste if there is enough plastic to bother them so it's not really too much of a problem. i used to drink a lot of bottled water. if i drink as much tap water as i do spring my stomach feels kind of gross. there is a lot of chlorine and other stuff in my city's water supply. i actually like the taste of it, but once i started drinking a lot of water, i mostly stay away from it. i feel like the bottled water is healthier.
 
Well I definitely don’t think it’s good. It’s pollution after all. As far as exactly how harmful it is, I’m not sure

A lot of bottled water is just tap water they put in a bottle and sold lol. They label it like “glacial elkfuck mountain spring agua” or something but it’s sourced from a municipal water supply in Trenton New Jersey or something

Juicewrldfan said:
I agree that what I said was bs regarding the conspiracy but I’m sure you caught I was joking so I guess I just wanted to clarify.

I guess what I’m saying is do you really think it’s that dangerous or we just do t have any real way of knowing yet? I thought it could be hypothesized, but I do not have a great understanding of these kind of things.
Click to expand...
 
now that you mentioned it, i was in a psychward outside of boston mass usa and their water was actually pretty much impossible to tell the difference between "spring water"... there is so much chlorine and i think flouride in the water supply i have access to that i can only drink so much of it so i have to drink bottled water... i didn't read his article so i wasn't even thinking about the environment. i was reading an article off of my computer's homepage about how they are making a liquid that melts plastic which should help manage waste in dumps some how. i dunno.. i'm sure i've researched where plastic comes from but i can't remember, so i can't really say much about it. i really know nothing about plastic other than it's probably what effected the taste of the water that i thought was bad.... some one on reddit posted "there is xylene in my cities water supply" just the other day. also i have no idea if that's real or not.
 
Burnt Offerings said:
There really is no use for plastic water bottles tho. Plenty of alternatives, from kelp-derived bioplastics to good ol glass (no shortage of sand in the world after all)

www.popsci.com

Why seaweed is a natural fit for replacing certain plastics

More than half of the finalists for the Tom Ford and Lonely Whale Plastic Innovation Prize used seaweed or some other kind of algae in their bioplastic products.
www.popsci.com www.popsci.com
Click to expand...
Indeed. Convenience though is very compelling for humans. I use a metal water bottle but damned if cleaning it periodically isn't highly demotivating. 😒

Slightly ot but in Aus, the government recently banned plastic drinking straws. They're all now paper. Such a typical feel good but essentially drop in the ocean type of action from a modern progressive govt
 
I'm not sure that plastic water bottles are any bigger of a problem than the massive amount of plastic packaging we use in our food.

I really think we should tax the hell out of meat, clothing, and gas powered cars, as these are the most significant contributors to the microplastics that are now circulating through our global water systems.

It's in the GODDAMN RAIN for fuck's sake. It's in OUR ORGANS.

Eventually it will start seriously fucking with the plankton in our oceans that produce 50% of the oxygen on our little rock. We don't even know how it's going to fuck with them, but their populations are moving, and the types of plankton showing up in plankton blooms is fluctuating. Some plankton are eating the microplastics and not getting any nutrients from it and starving to death.
 
I'm not a scientist by any means but I did live in Portsmouth, NH during a time when they found groundwater contaminated with PFOS, PFAS. This lead to many years of studies and testing. They were trying to link a cluster of cancer cases in children to the contamination. I don't believe they ever had enough data to do it but I've heard about this for years. Pretty much everyone has micro plastics in their bodies. There's really nothing to be done about them. I guess hindsite is 20/20 in this case. I'm putting a link up to the EPA site with more information than you could possibly ever want or need.

www.epa.gov

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) | US EPA

Basic information about PFOA, PFOS and other PFAS/PFCs; how people are exposed; health effects; laws and regs that apply; and what EPA and states are doing to reduce exposures.
www.epa.gov www.epa.gov
 
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(Micro)Plastics Are Toxic Pollutants

Plastics, including microplastics, have generally been regarded as harmful to organisms because of their physical characteristics. There has recently been a call to understand and regard them as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. This review elaborates ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
I think the contribution of microplastics from bottled water is not going to make a huge difference to the average person in the greater scheme. Microplastics have pervaded our food supply and PFAS are not only in our drinking water, they are raining down on us and into our water reservoirs regularly now. Our entire environment is contaminated. Whether you drink bottled water or not is inconsequential.

I just don't drink it because why the fuck would I pay some mega corporation for bottled water if tap water is okay? I only drink bottled water when I travel to developing countries that have endemic diseases.
 
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