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September 26, 2019 03:30 am
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/hutqxfhiaZg/plastic-tea-bags-shed-millions-of-microplastic-particles-into-the-cup-study-finds
Plastic Tea Bags Shed Millions of Microplastic Particles Into the Cup, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: Tea drinkers have been urged to avoid plastic tea bags after tests found that a single bag sheds billions of particles of microplastic into each cup. A Canadian team found that steeping a plastic tea bag at a brewing temperature of 95C releases around 11.6 billion microplastics -- tiny pieces of plastic between 100 nanometers and 5 millimeters in size – into a single cup. That is several orders of magnitude higher than other foods and drinks. "We think that it is a lot when compared to other foods that contain microplastics," says Nathalie Tufenkji at McGill University. "Table salt, which has a relatively high microplastic content, has been reported to contain approximately 0.005 micrograms plastic per gram salt. A cup of tea contains thousands of times greater mass of plastic, at 16 micrograms per cup." Tufenkji's team bought four different tea bags from shops and cafes in Montreal, cut them open and washed them, steeped them in 95C water and analyzed the water with electron microscopes and spectroscopy. A control of uncut tea bags was used to check it wasn't the cutting that was causing the leaching of microplastics. The study has been published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/hutqxfhiaZg/plastic-tea-bags-shed-millions-of-microplastic-particles-into-the-cup-study-finds
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