Using a new microscopic technique that can detect minute particles of plastic in bottled water, Rutgers Health and Columbia researchers have discovered that, on average, one liter of water contains approximately 240,000 detectable plastic fragments, which is 10–100 times greater than previous estimates based on larger sizes of plastic. The researchers warn that these nanoplastics can pass into human blood, cells, and placenta with unknown health effects.
Scientists have begun to find ubiquitous evidence of microplastics in the environment, food, drinking water, and the human body. Nanoplastics, which are far smaller than microplastics and are smaller than one micrometer and measured in billionths of a meter, can pass through environmental filters and biological barriers, including the lungs and intestines. From there, the plastic particles can travel to organs, including the heart, brain, and placenta. They can even invade individual cells and cross through the placenta into the bodies of developing fetuses.