My daughter is a professor in environmental toxicology and sent me this article today. She got it from the US Ecotoxicology society (SETAC)—they send out a weekly briefing.
Basically it is saying we haven’t yet confirmed that microplastic and microfiber particles are directly causing human health problems, but there are multiple ways that they could be.
“Depending on the recipe, you can have some chemicals in plastic that are toxic, and in fact a lot of ‘substances of very high concern (SVHCs)’ are associated with plastic products.” She’s also concerned by what is known as particle toxicity. “If tiny particles, including plastics, make their way to a tissue in your body, they can cause what’s called oxidative stress, which can lead to chronic inflammation.” That, in turn, is now understood to play a major role in the onset of a number of chronic diseases, Leslie explains. toxins in the environment can become attached to them." There are studies that indicate inflammatory diseases are on the rise.
The second link is how much of the world’s tap water supply is contaminated by microplastic fibers. 94% of the US samples were contaminated. "There’s one confirmed source of plastic fiber pollution - and you’re probably wearing it. Synthetic garments emit up to 700,000 fibers per washload, researchers found. Much of that evades treatment and is discharged into public waterways. Mason said fibers in treated wastewater are probably later collected and piped into homes in other communities. “We’re all downstream from someone.”
We’ve been using charcoal filters for drinking water since we lived in Houston. The tap water contained too much chlorine to be used in a swimming pool.
@castoff said:
“We’re all downstream from someone.”
I’m curious how those of us with private wells are affected. My water well is about 203 feet deep and I’m fortunate to live surrounded by forests. I guess I should check with local health department to see if they can test for plastic particulates.
I’m curious how those of us with private wells are affected. My water well is about 203 feet deep and I’m fortunate to live surrounded by forests. I guess I should check with local health department to see if they can test for plastic particulates.
Yes I thought about that too. However any food product containing water like can goods and juices, and any time you eat out the tea, coffee and water could be contaminated. Some aquifers contain ancient water and some are constantly being replenished.
I don’t know where you saw this, but there is no direct correlation between mechanical filtration - particle removal - and chemical filtration, which is what activated carbon filters do. They are largely separate functions. BTW, it’s not “charcoal” and if you see a filter that uses that term in it’s description, it’s probably junk.
Activated carbon filters will remove some particles by default, but it depends on the size of the carbon granules and how tightly packed they are. There are compressed carbon block filters that serve both functions with a single element, but they’re not the best or most efficient solution.
Most high-quality water filters combine separate mechanical filters before and after granulated, activated carbon. Typically the pre-filter is coarse and just removes larger particles (to prevent clogging of the carbon and post filter) and the post filter is very fine to trap bacteria and other microbes, and microscopic particles of other material.
So, we’re back to cotton and wool now. That means more agriculture, and ag is one of our biggest polluters here (actually - THE biggest polluter in my state, I think).
I hope we can turn things around eventually, but Castoff - your posts are making me feel like M G Krebs (skip to 0:18)…