Boiling tap water can destroy at least 80 percent of the three most common plastic compounds it contains, The Hill reported Feb. 29, citing research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
This means that drinking boiled tap water may be safer than drinking bottled water. Last month, scientists at Columbia University reported that bottled water can contain up to a quarter of a million nanoplastic fragments per liter.
The researchers studied the effect of boiling on three compounds found in water: polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene. They do not break down completely and eventually break down into nanoplastics about the size of a virus, making them ideal for disrupting the machinery of human cells and passing through key protective filters, such as the intestinal lining and blood-brain barrier.
Of the compounds tested, the greatest concern is polystyrene, which can cause intestinal inflammation and lead to the death of red blood cells. The rest are generally considered safe, although endocrinologists say the methodology for determining the safety of plastics is seriously flawed.
In the study, researchers placed three plastic compounds in “hard water,” a common type of fresh water in the United States that contains high levels of calcium and magnesium carbonate.
These compounds are characteristic of groundwater extracted from cavities in underground deposits of limestone, a rock that is composed mainly of calcium carbonate.
When water containing plastic was boiled, these calcium carbonates formed small clumps around most microscopic plastics, trapping them inside and rendering them harmless.
“A simple boiling water strategy can ‘detoxify’ nanoplastics and microplastics in household tap water and potentially reduce their human consumption.”write the authors of the report.
However, the report contains important caveats.
The scientists looked at only the three most common and, in the case of polyethylene and polypropylene, the safest plastic polymers. For example, they didn’t look at vinyl chloride, a compound that was a major concern in a study last month on bottled water.
Boiling also did not remove all the polymers.
Finally, for this method to be effective, it requires hard water or the addition of calcium carbonate, something that is common but far from universal worldwide.
However, when combined with reports on the amount of microplastics in bottled water, the report offers a possible answer to the question of how to protect against at least some forms of plastic pollution, The Hill states.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.