A new analysis found that nearly all bottled water contains tiny, and sometimes not-so-tiny pieces of plastic.

Plastic Particles Found In Bottled Water, BBC, 15 March 2018

Sherri Mason, a professor of chemistry at the university, conducted the analysis and told BBC News: “We found [plastic] in bottle after bottle and brand after brand.

“It’s not about pointing fingers at particular brands; it’s really showing that this is everywhere, that plastic has become such a pervasive material in our society, and it’s pervading water – all of these products that we consume at a very basic level.”

The BBC article said:

Currently, there is no evidence that ingesting very small pieces of plastic (microplastics) can cause harm.

This is not true. Of course there is evidence of harm. This was either sloppy journalism or deliberate. When big companies control media, media have to be careful what they say, who they criticize. This is one reason I don’t accept ads. I want to be able to speak freely.

From NPR: Study: Most Plastics Leach Hormone-Like Chemicals. Hormone-like chemicals are also called endocrine disruptors (EDs). EDs are a problem, even at very small doses. I wrote about this back in 2015 when the Endocrine Society came out with their watershed report:

Executive Summary to EDC-2: The Endocrine Society’s Second Scientific Statement On Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals, The Endocrine Society, 28 September 2015

The full Scientific Statement represents a comprehensive review of the literature on seven topics for which there is strong mechanistic, experimental, animal, and epidemiological evidence for endocrine disruption, namely: obesity and diabetes, female reproduction, male reproduction, hormone-sensitive cancers in females, prostate cancer, thyroid, and neurodevelopment and neuroendocrine systems. EDCs such as bisphenol A, phthalates, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diethyl ethers, and dioxins were emphasized because these chemicals had the greatest depth and breadth of available information.

Their bibliography includes over 1300 articles.

They said:

Like hormones, [endocrine disrupting chemicals] exhibit complex dose-response curves, and they can act at extremely low concentrations.

From the NPR article:

Concerns about plastics can’t be solved by worried consumers at the checkout counter. It’s a problem for government.

I want to say I’m glad we have an EPA to study and regulate this.