Boiling Drinking Water Removes 90% Of Microplastics

Tiny plastic particles can seem alarmingly ubiquitous and nearly impossible to get rid of — they’ve been found in food, breast milk, and even clouds.

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted a number of possible health risks posed by exposure to microplastics but also said that more research needs to be done.

But new research suggests that boiling water could reduce microplastics in drinking water by 90%, Maggie Penman reported for The Washington Post.

Zhanjun Li and Eddy Y. Zeng reported in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters that boiling and filtering water helped remove up to nearly 90% of the tiny plastic particles, which they write can be found in 129 of 159 tap water samples from 14 countries worldwide.

The impact of consuming these tiny particles still is not well understood. A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) noted a number of possible health risks posed by exposure to microplastics but also said that more research needs to be done.

“Science takes a long time,” said Chris Reddy, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who wasn’t involved in the new research. “The picture is still getting worked out.”

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