The presence of microplastics in water has been a well-known problem for a long time. However, a recent study published in the Nature Foods journal points to the fact that microplastics may be released in dangerously large quantities from baby bottles when they’re used for the standard preparation of baby formula.
What exactly are microplastics?
For a quick crash-course of the problem, microplastics are exactly what they sound like – microscopic pieces of plastic that are torn from large plastic objects such as water bottles over time. This happens either when the plastic is subjected to extreme heat, be it from a kitchen appliance or from sun exposure, or when it’s just deteriorating over time.
These microscopic pieces of plastic are so small that they are often invisible to the human eye in normal conditions. Due to pollution, they are generally found in many water sources right now and are often discovered in marine fish.
Their exact threat level upon ingestion is somewhat unclear. Some studies and reports conclude that there’s no concrete evidence about the danger posed by microplastics as of now. Many other studies, however, claim that microplastics often cause a lot of damage when they pass through our bodies – from direct physical damage to our organs to leaking hazardous materials in our systems such as the hormone-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA) or pesticides.
Aren’t baby bottles of high enough quality to be safe?
Most people by now are aware that thin and flimsy water bottles are too poorly made and therefore easily leak microplastics. Aren’t baby bottles and other more well-made plastic bottles BPA-free and durable though?
According to the recent study published in Nature Foods, bottle-fed infants worldwide are likely consuming over 1.5 million particles of microplastics per day. While this sounds horrifying, experts urge that there still isn’t enough data to suggest a course change.
Philipp Schwabl, one of the physicians and researchers from the Medical University of Vienna who authored a 2018 study and was the first to document microplastics in human excrements says that people shouldn’t panic.
“At the moment, there is no need to be afraid,” said Philipp Schwabl. “But it is an open question and definitely an unmet [research] need.”
The sentiment is echoed by John Boland, a chemistry professor and materials science researcher from the Trinity College Dublin and one of the researchers on the new Nature Foods study. According to Boland, “The last thing we want to do is unduly alarm parents.”
He also pointed out that the release of microplastics happens mostly when the bottles are heated to high temperatures.
“What’s happening is that there’s an interaction between the [plastic] polymer and the water,” Boland said. “It’s almost like a flaking of the surface of the actual plastic itself.”
Although, Boland adds that mere shaking of the bottle also leads to a small amount of microplastic flaking. During the study, the researchers would fill the bottled with room temperature water and shake them for ~60 seconds, as per the standard instructions for the preparation of baby formula. Under these “normal conditions”, the researchers observed the release of “hundreds of thousands of microplastics” per bottle” Boland said. When the temperature was increased, those hundreds of thousands jumped up to millions.
The researchers also observed a large number of nanoplastics together with the microplastics. According to them, the number of nanoplastics was in the trillions and “we stopped counting them,” at a certain point.
If you’re wondering what nanoplastics are, these are essentially microplastics that range in size between 10 nanometers and 1 micron.
The plastic baby bottles kept releasing micro and nanoplastics throughout all 21 days of testing per bottle.
Why are the researchers so calm about this?
