School of Chemistry, Australian Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC), The University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; Eurofins Environment Testing Australia & New Zealand, Australia.
Eurofins Environment Testing Australia & New Zealand, Australia; School of Science/School of Global, Urban, and Social Studies, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Sep 1;837:155329. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155329. Epub 2022 May 2.
The presence of microplastics in the environment is substantially documented; however, the pathways of dietary exposure to microplastics are not yet well understood. This is the first study to document the presence of microplastics in bottled water sold in Australia from commercial outlets. In total, 16 brands of bottled water (Australian Sourced: n = 11, Imported: n = 5) sold in the two largest supermarkets in Australia were analysed in triplicate (n = 48) for the presence of polyethylene, PE; polystyrene, PS; polypropylene, PP; polyvinyl chloride, PVC; polyethylene terephthalate, PET; polycarbonate, PC; polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA; and polyamide, PA. Microplastics were detected in 94% (n = 15) of the samples, with PP (n = 14, 88%), PET (n = 10, 63%), PA (n = 7, 44%), and PE (n = 6, 38%) the most frequently detected. On average, a litre of bottled water contained 13 ± 19 (St Dev) microplastics, ranging from 0 to 80 microplastics/L. The average size of the microplastics identified in this study was 77 ± 22 μm. It was found that bottled water sourced and packaged overseas contained four times as many microplastics compared to bottled water sourced in Australia. It was estimated that in 2017, 28.3% of the Australian population consumed on average 30.8 L of bottled water; therefore, using the result from this study it is estimated that Australians are exposed to 400 microplastics annually through the consumption of bottled water. To understand the total amount of microplastics that Australians could be exposed to through dietary routes, further work is required to observe the presence of microplastics in other beverages and food.
环境中存在微塑料已得到充分证实；然而，人们对通过饮食摄入微塑料的途径仍知之甚少。这是第一项记录澳大利亚商业网点销售的瓶装水中存在微塑料的研究。本研究共分析了澳大利亚两家最大超市销售的 16 个品牌的瓶装水（澳大利亚产地：n = 11，进口：n = 5），每份重复 3 次（n = 48），以检测聚乙烯（PE）、聚苯乙烯（PS）、聚丙烯（PP）、聚氯乙烯（PVC）、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）、聚碳酸酯（PC）、聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）和聚酰胺（PA）的存在情况。94%（n = 15）的样本中检测到微塑料，其中最常检测到的是 PP（n = 14，88%）、PET（n = 10，63%）、PA（n = 7，44%）和 PE（n = 6，38%）。平均每升瓶装水含有 13 ± 19（标准差）个微塑料，范围从 0 到 80 个/升。本研究中鉴定的微塑料平均尺寸为 77 ± 22 微米。研究发现，与澳大利亚产地的瓶装水相比，来自海外产地和包装的瓶装水含有多达四倍的微塑料。据估计，2017 年，澳大利亚 28.3%的人口平均每人消费 30.8 升瓶装水；因此，根据本研究的结果，估计澳大利亚人每年通过饮用瓶装水摄入 400 个微塑料。为了了解澳大利亚人通过饮食途径接触微塑料的总量，需要进一步观察其他饮料和食品中微塑料的存在情况。
