Billions of plastic particles in just one cup of tea from a bag
By: Rob Picheta, CNN; September 27, 2019
They are everywhere: in the oceans[1], soil[2], air, snow[3] – and even in your cup of tea!
Plastic tea bags release billions of plastic particles into the tea we drink, a new scientific study reveals.
Researchers from McGill University in Canada analyzed what happens when we put 4 different tea bags available in our stores into boiling water. They found that just one bag into a cup of tea releases about 11.6 billion particles of so-called microplastics and 3.1 billion even smaller nanoplastic particles - which is several thousand times more than what was previously found in other types of food and drink.
We do not know the effects of this plastic on our health, while scientists[4] warn that more research is needed on this topic.
At the same time, they removed the tea from the bag (so that it would not affect the result) and put the bags into boiling water, in order to simulate a tea preparation.
Microplastics have already been found in different types of food, but a smaller number of experiments have dealt with this plastic in teas and other hot drinks.
Many tea manufacturers use polypropylene when sealing tea bags.
According to a previously conducted independent study[5], the average person eats around 5 grams of plastic every week – that's the weight of a credit card!
In its first analysis of the risks posed by plastic in tap and bottled water, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced last month that microplastics 'do not appear to pose a health risk for the time being'[6], but the key conclusion came with great caution: we have limited data and much more research is needed on the impact of microplastics on human health.
"We urgently need knowledge about how microplastics affect us, because they are everywhere - including in drinking water," said Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health at WHO.
[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/24/health/plastic-pollution-rivers-oceans-scn-intl/index.html
[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/22/health/microplastics-land-and-air-pollution-intl/index.html
[3] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/15/world/microplastics-arctic-snow-alps-study-scr-trnd/index.html
[4] https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/some-plastic-your-tea-300919
[5] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/11/health/microplastics-ingestion-wwf-study-scn-intl/index.html
[6] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/21/health/who-microplastics-drinking-water-risk-intl/index.html
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