The Potential Health Risks of Plastic Water Bottles

Australia’s SBS News reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) will conduct a review of the possible dangers of microplastics found in bottled drinking water. 

The review comes after a study found most of the world's leading brands of bottled water were contaminated with small plastic particles, likely seeping in during the packaging process.

Bruce Gordon, coordinator of the WHO's global work on water and sanitation, told BBC News the key question was whether a lifetime of eating or drinking particles of plastic could have an effect on a person's health.

A research study conducted by U.S.-based nonprofit Orb Media found there was "widespread contamination" of microplastics across 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the U.S.

"We found [plastic] in bottle after bottle and brand after brand," leader researcher Sherri Mason told BBC News. "It's not about pointing fingers at particular brands; it's really showing that this is everywhere, that plastic has become such a pervasive material in our society, and it's pervading water—all of these products that we consume at a very basic level."

Mason also told AFP that most of the plastic particles were likely coming from the bottle itself, including the cap. 

Related:Why Consumers Are Ditching Junk Food

Representatives from the bottled water industry took issue with the findings, saying they were not peer-reviewed and "not based on sound science," according to a statement from the International Bottled Water Association.