Sarah Sajedi was visited Phi Phi Island in Thailand when she was enchanted by the handsome scenery of the Andaman Sea. However, when she looked at her feet, she saw that the white sandy beach was covered in plastic trash, most of which came from plastic bottles.
After many years in the business world as co-founder of an environmental software company, this experience inspired Sajedi to become a researcher. She was always passionate about reducing waste, but realized that the problem was consumption itself.
Thus, as a PhD student at Concordia University in Canada, Sajedi review over 140 scientific articles to determine the impact of plastic bottles on the human body. She found that people consume an average of 39,000 to 52,000 microplastic particles a year from food and drinking water, and those who drink bottled water daily absorb almost 90,000 particles more into their bodies.
“In an emergency situation, you can drink water from plastic bottles, but you should not use it on a daily basis” – Sajedi explains. “Even if there is no immediate effect on the human body, we need to understand the possibility of chronic damage.”
The long-term effects remain a mystery
Microplastics are plastic particles ranging in size from 1 micrometer (1/1000 of a millimeter) to 5 mm. Nanoplastics are even smaller, measuring less than one micrometer. These particles are imperceptible to the naked eye, but are constantly produced during the production, storage, transportation and decomposition of bottles.
Low-quality plastics in particular are susceptible to the release of microscopic contaminants when exposed to sunlight, temperature changes and physical manipulation. Unlike other plastic particles that enter the body through the food chain, particles from plastic bottles are of concern because they are consumed directly through drinking water.
Once inside the body, microscopic plastics can enter the bloodstream and reach vital organs. This triggers a chronic inflammatory response and exposes cells to oxidative stress, which can lead to endocrine system disorders, impaired reproductive function and damage to the nervous system. It has also been linked to various types of cancer. On the other hand, the long-term health effects remain unclear due to the lack of widespread testing and standard measurement methods.
There are several analytical methods for detecting micro- and nanoplastics, but each has its advantages and weaknesses. Some methods can detect very tiny particles but cannot determine their chemical composition, while others can analyze the composition but miss the smallest particles.