Scientists have recently found a simple and effective means of removing them from water.
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In some cases, up to 90 percent of the NMPs were removed by the boiling and filtering process, though the effectiveness varied based on the type of water.
Of course the big benefit is that most people can do it using what they already have in their kitchen.
“This simple boiling water strategy can ‘decontaminate’ NMPs from household tap water and has the potential for harmlessly alleviating human intake of NMPs through water consumption,” write biomedical engineer Zimin Yu from Guangzhou Medical University and colleagues.
A greater concentration of NMPs was removed from samples of hard tap water, which naturally forms a build-up of limescale (or calcium carbonate) as it is heated.
Commonly seen inside kitchen kettles, the chalky substance forms on the plastic’s surface as changes in temperature force the calcium carbonate out of solution, effectively trapping the plastic fragments in a crust.
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Even in soft water, where less calcium carbonate is dissolved, roughly a quarter of the NMPs were snagged from the water.
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The team behind this latest study wants to see more research into how boiled water could keep artificial materials out of our bodies – and perhaps counter some of the alarming effects of microplastics that are emerging.
