Glass bottles in France found to contain more microplastics than plastic ones

Beverage Sold in glass bottles, such as soda,, wineOr beerMay contain more microplastic particles than those in plastic, a new surprising study published by the French food security agency suggests.

MicroplasticsSeveral times smaller than the width of a single strand of human hair, form when plastic waste decomposes into small pieces over time, finding their path in the environment and in the bodies of humans and other species.

They were detected almost everywhere, polluting the clouds, the deepest parts of the ocean and on the sides of the highest mountains in the world.

An growing set of studies warns that exposure to these particles via the air that we breathe and the foods we eat could be linked to serious health problems such as strokes, hormonal disturbances and several types of cancer.

Scientists hope to better understand the prevalence of these potentially toxic particles and the ways that humans are exposed to them. Previous research has revealed that direct evidence connecting a key ingredient in plastic bottles to an increased risk of diabetes.

Now, a new study published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis has revealed that microplastics are widespread even in drinks sold in glass bottles.

Researchers, including those of the French food security agency Anse, found on average around 100 microplastic particles per liter in glass bottles of soft drinksLemonade, tea and beer.

This could be five to 50 times higher than the rate found in plastic bottles or metal cans, according to scientists.

“Counter-intuitively, drinks sold in glass bottles were more contaminated by microplastics,” they wrote in the study.

“We expected this opposite result,” one of the authors of the new study told AFP.

The study could not directly determine if there was a risk to the health of consumption of these drinks sold or not in glass bottles, due to the lack of toxicological data.

Scientists discovered that microplastic particles in glass bottles corresponded to the composition of color and polymer of the paint on their caps, indicating that it was probably the main source of contamination.

They recommend that glass bottle manufacturers clean up new capsules before capping bottles to reduce microplastic contamination.

“The pre-cleaning of new capsules, by exploding and rinsing them with water / ethanol / water, has considerably reduced the number of MPS (microplastic) per encapsulated bottle, which reduced it by about three, compared to untreated capsules,” said scientists.

Researchers suspect that the capsules used for the ceiling of glass bottles probably undergo abrasion and surface friction when they collide during storage and transport, which means that their particles are glowing in bottles.

“Cleaning seems to be essential and could considerably minimize the contamination of the liquid in the bottle by paint particles present in the capsule,” they added.