https://phys.org/news/2025-06-glass-bottles-microplastics-plastic.html
'Drinks including water, soda, beer and wine sold in glass bottles contain more
microplastics than those in plastic bottles, according to a surprising study
released by France's food safety agency Friday.
Researchers have detected the tiny, mostly invisible pieces of plastic
throughout the world, from in the air we breathe to the food we eat, as well as
riddled throughout human bodies.
There is still no direct evidence that this preponderance of plastic is harmful
to human health, but a burgeoning field of research is aiming to measure its
spread.
Guillaume Duflos, research director at French food safety agency ANSES, told
AFP the team sought to "investigate the quantity of microplastics in
different types of drinks sold in France and examine the impact different
containers can have."
The researchers found an average of around 100 microplastic particles per liter
in glass bottles of soft drinks, lemonade, iced tea and beer. That was five to
50 times higher than the rate detected in plastic bottles or metal cans.
"We expected the opposite result," Ph.D. student Iseline Chaib, who conducted
the research, told
AFP.
"We then noticed that in the glass, the particles emerging from the samples
were the same shape, color and polymer composition—so therefore the same
plastic—as the paint on the outside of the caps that seal the glass bottles,"
she said.
The paint on the caps also had "tiny scratches, invisible to the naked eye,
probably due to friction between the caps when there were stored," the agency
said in a statement.
This could then "release particles onto the surface of the caps," it added.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
