HOUSTON — Do you ever think about what’s in your drinking water? Spring mom Christina Sizemore does a lot. The safety of drinking water is something she’s cared about for years. That’s why she wasn’t surprised to learn researchers recently found plastic fragments inside three different brands of bottled water.
Dr. Anna Gitter, an environmental researcher with UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in El Paso said advances in technology helped researchers detect those tiny particles for the first time.
“What’s so alarming is they found much higher concentrations of these particles than we have previously thought possible,” Gitter said.
Experts say tiny nanoparticles of plastic are likely present in all food and drinks packaged in plastic. Gitter said the long-term health impacts of this still need more research. However, in the meantime, she believes the rising popularity of reusable water bottles is a good thing and Sizemore agrees.
“We’re switching to these reusable bottles, which is wonderful, but we need to be aware of how we’re cleaning those. Make sure you’re not ingesting mold, because it grows. That’s what mold does,” she said.
She learned that the hard way. Others have made the same nasty discovery in viral TikTok videos.
Sizemore said she cleans her bottles piece by piece after every use. She said it’s worth it to reduce her family’s plastic use.
“Making tiny steps, one at a time as you can, eventually will make a huge difference,” Sizemore said.