
Most of the studies devoted to this issue do not meet the quality criteria developed for the analysis of microplastics, therefore their results should be treated with caution.
According to environmentalists, by 2017 around 8.3 billion tons of plastic were produced in the world and about 6.3 billion tons were thrown out.
Plastic waste is gradually destroyed and disintegrated into microparticles (smaller than 0.5 millimeters) that pollute the water, including plumbing, soil and air.
It is believed that the potential danger can come not only from the particles themselves, but also from toxic contaminants and pathogens that can accumulate on them.
For example, the authors of a study in mice showed that animals fed microplastic water developed liver inflammation.
However, the concentration of particles in drinking water, which was used in the experiments, was five times higher than in tap water.