Do you know what you are drinking?
Dear friends around the world,
Do you know that 884 million people around the world lack access to basic drinking water, with 159 million people dependent on surface water? Contaminated water is one of the causes of disease, especially in developing countries. Those who live in developed countries are more fortunate as water systems that filter and chlorinate water prevent many waterborne diseases. However, there is another type of danger lurking.
I came across the article below online and I thought I would share with everyone. We need to urgently find out about the implications as this is a cause for concern. Scientists are not able to tell what the effects are on human health at this point of time. What we do definitely impacts the environment even on a tiny microscopic level and the more knowledge or information we have, we will be able to utilise our natural resources with less damage to the ecosystem and the planet. It is important to understand what is happening with our environment, and the role we play or our contribution towards those phenomena. We have to do our best to ensure that the generations to come will continue to enjoy a safe and clean living environment.
Tsem Rinpoche
Scientists discover plastic particles in tap water around the world
By: South China Morning Post, September 6, 2017 @ 10:13am
Polystyrene particles less than 50 nanometers long are seen in fluorescent green inside a freshwater plankton, Daphnia magna. Photo: Orb Media
HONG KONG: Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.
Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83 per cent of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.
The US had the highest contamination rate, at 94 per cent, with plastic fibres found in tap water sampled at sites including Congress buildings, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York. Lebanon and India had the next highest rates.
European nations including the UK, Germany and France had the lowest contamination rate, but this was still 72 per cent. The average number of fibres found in each 500ml sample ranged from 4.8 in the US to 1.9 in Europe.
The new analyses indicate the ubiquitous extent of microplastic contamination in the global environment. Previous work has been largely focused on plastic pollution in the oceans, which suggests people are eating microplastics via contaminated seafood.
Plastic fibres found in the tap water at the visitor’s centre in the US Capitol complex in Washington. Photo: Orb Media
“We have enough data from looking at wildlife, and the impacts that it’s having on wildlife, to be concerned,” said Dr Sherri Mason, a microplastic expert at the State University of New York in Fredonia, who supervised the analyses for Orb. “If it’s impacting (wildlife), then how do we think that it’s not going to somehow impact us?”
A separate small study in Ireland released in June also found microplastic contamination in a handful of tap water and well samples. “We don’t know what the (health) impact is and for that reason we should follow the precautionary principle and put enough effort into it now, immediately, so we can find out what the real risks are,” said Dr Anne Marie Mahon at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, who conducted the research.
Mahon said there were two principal concerns: very small plastic particles and the chemicals or pathogens that microplastics can harbour. “If the fibres are there, it is possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can’t measure,” she said. “Once they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.”
The Orb analyses caught particles of more than 2.5 microns in size, 2,500 times bigger than a nanometre.
Microplastics can attract bacteria found in sewage, Mahon said: “Some studies have shown there are more harmful pathogens on microplastics downstream of wastewater treatment plants.”
Microplastics are also known to contain and absorb toxic chemicals and research on wild animals shows they are released in the body. Prof Richard Thompson, at Plymouth University, UK, told Orb: “It became clear very early on that the plastic would release those chemicals and that actually, the conditions in the gut would facilitate really quite rapid release.” His research has shown microplastics are found in a third of fish caught in the UK.
The scale of global microplastic contamination is only starting to become clear, with studies in Germany finding fibres and fragments in all of the 24 beer brands they tested, as well as in honey and sugar. In Paris in 2015, researchers discovered microplastic falling from the air, which they estimated deposits three to 10 tonnes of fibres on the city each year, and that it was also present in the air in people’s homes.
This research led Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, to tell a UK parliamentary inquiry in 2016: “If we breathe them in they could potentially deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even across into our circulation.” Having seen the Orb data, Kelly told the Guardian that research is urgently needed to determine whether ingesting plastic particles is a health risk.
The new research tested 159 samples using a standard technique to eliminate contamination from other sources and was performed at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. The samples came from across the world, including from Uganda, Ecuador and Indonesia.
How microplastics end up in drinking water is for now a mystery, but the atmosphere is one obvious source, with fibres shed by the everyday wear and tear of clothes and carpets. Tumble dryers are another potential source, with almost 80 per cent of US households having dryers that usually vent to the open air.
“We really think that the lakes [and other water bodies] can be contaminated by cumulative atmospheric inputs,” said Johnny Gasperi, at the University Paris-Est Créteil, who did the Paris studies. “What we observed in Paris tends to demonstrate that a huge amount of fibres are present in atmospheric fallout.”
Plastic fibres may also be flushed into water systems, with a recent study finding that each cycle of a washing machine could release 700,000 fibres into the environment. Rains could also sweep up microplastic pollution, which could explain why the household wells used in Indonesia were found to be contaminated.
Bottled water may not provide a microplastic-free alternative to tapwater, as they were also found in a few samples of commercial bottled water tested in the US for Orb.
Plastic fibers have infiltrated the drinking water of cities and towns all over the world, according to orb’s exclusive research. They were even found in top u.s. bottled water brands. Synthetic fibers are almost certainly in your food, experts say, including baby formula, pasta, soups, and rice. Photo: Orb Media (Click to enlarge)
Almost 300 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year and, with just 20 per cent recycled or incinerated, much of it ends up littering the air, land and sea. A report in July found 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, with the researchers warning that plastic waste has become ubiquitous in the environment.
“We are increasingly smothering ecosystems in plastic and I am very worried that there may be all kinds of unintended, adverse consequences that we will only find out about once it is too late,” said Professor Roland Geyer, from the University of California and Santa Barbara, who led the study.
Source: http://www.nst.com.my/world/2017/09/276714/scientists-discover-plastic-particles-tap-water-around-world
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- Deep Sea Plastic Pollution Reaches Alarming Heights
- How Plastic Destroys Our Seas
- There May Soon Be More Plastic in the Oceans Than Fish
- Build Your Own Growroom
- Do You Have These Cancer Causing Agents At Home?
- Buddhist Monks Working to Tackle Deforestation in Cambodia
- Is it time to worry?
- 10 Houseplants That Can Purify the Air in Your House
- Keep Up the Good Work! Our Earth is Healing
- Do you know what is killing us slowly?
- Earthlings
- Water: The Free Cure!
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We all are more aware about plastic pollution. From our understanding it is dangerous only to water habitats and for the earth. This research is explained how it is harm to human.
Thank you for the beneficial article Rinpoche.
Animals show love for humans! Cow, lions, apes, dogs, bears, parrots and more can all be very affectionate and show surprising emotions when it comes to expressing their love for people. An emotional animals hugging humans video.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1546455946.mp4
Antique Pelden Lhamo thangka with sacred Dorje Shugden at the bottom right. Can see Tsongkapa and Guru Rinpoche on the top also. Beautiful and holy.
You guys are going to have a cute attack with these two super adorable videos of Tsem Rinpoche’s doggies Oser and Dharma.-
https://youtu.be/JX1UdH7IjQ8
And
https://youtu.be/YGD7CtNmnuI
The videos JUST came out!
Enjoy!
Plastic pollution and contamination, is affecting us in so many ways, we really need to take measures to stop plastic going into our environment and our water systems. Also many marine and water based animals are being adversely affected the plastic pollution / contamination.
This is really a shocking news. Glad to know scientists are doing more for research on the implications for health. At least we could know more knowledge and more aware of all plastics fibres in our tap water. All this while we have been drinking . Plastic fibres have infiltrated the drinking water of cities and towns all over the world. Our oceans are littered with plastic, which is killing whales and other marine mammals, and contaminating fish. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this information with us.
Alarming height and shocking to know there is microplastic contamination in our drinking water after scientific investigation has discovered that.
Glad to know scientists are doing more for research on the implications for health. At least we could know more knowledge and more aware of all plastics fibres in our tap water. All this while we have been drinking . Scientists warn microplastics are so small they could penetrate organs. That is bad for our health. Plastic fibres have infiltrated the drinking water of cities and towns all over the world. Our oceans are littered with plastic, which is killing whales and other marine mammals, and contaminating fish. Previous studies have shown when people eat seafood, they are also eating high levels of microplastics, not to mention taking in a lot of mercury as well
Many people have involved to make a change for a better environment for the generation to come. Educating the people from school children to the people on the streets the safest ways of garbage disposal will be a wonderful start. We should all take responsibility to care for the environment and help raise awareness.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche loves animals and is passionate against their harm, torture, and abuse.
The few minutes a day we spend on social media creating awareness for animals who cannot speak is purely spiritual and humanistic practice because we are trying to alleviate pain from another sentient beings and that makes us more spiritual, and that makes us more spiritual and more humane.
This is really a shocking news.
We always think that the plastics in the sea are consumed by sea animal and there are a lots of evident that show the fish died because of the plastic particle in the stomach. Through this news, we not only might eat plastic, we also drink and breath in plastic. We are toxicating ourselves.
We have use plastic too much. Everything we use in daily life is plastic. This is really an urgent and important article not to be miss. We need to stop using plastic as we like
Dear friends,
This meme is powerful. Who you hang around with and the types of attitude they have is who you will be influenced by many times and who you will become in the future. Look at your friends and the people that always surround you to know who you will become.
Tsem Rinpoche
The scale microplastic contamination on international level is worrisome as it can pose health issues for human and animals living in this generation and the future generations. We can see that many diseases are on the rise which were not heard of in the past. To curb this situation it is the social responsibility of each individual to reduce the usage of plastic and littering on the surface of earth and its waterways and ocean. I hope plastic alternatives which are eco-friendly materials can be found to replace plastic in a big scale in the not too distant future to overcome this issue.
If everyone in this world do their part, it will not be contaminated. Plastics ( non biodegradable) invention indeed causes huge problems directly and indirectly towards sea creatures, animals and human beings. Foresee there will be more diseases in future and life will be shorten even more if nothing has been done.
https://youtu.be/yaDx-WJAsaE
It is very worrying that there are such high percentage of plastic fibres found in our tap water. Even developed country such as UK, Germany and France has 72% of their tap water contaminated with plastic fibres. I guess this is the price we have to pay. With improve technologies and new science inventions we keep coming out with new products that uses various types of plastics and chemicals to bring down the production cost. But unfortunately, nothing comes free as human who will have to suffer the implication of these plastics fibres in the form of water and air, and it is alarming to our health. I think the only way is to create awareness to people telling them how harmful it can bring to us and we should avoid using the products that contribute the pollution and use alternative.
Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, it forever altered the relationship between mankind and the environemnt, changed the course for Earth’s ecology completely. Given rapid growth in innovation and social development, it came the mushrooming of machineries that paved way for mass production of any thing, and every thing. The advancement, convenience and speed that we are enjoy is in the expense of a healthy ecosystem. We have forgotten or perhaps couldn’t be bothered that man-made products are the synthetic source that pollutes the water and causing mutation to the marine eco-ssytem. Synthetic sources like chemicals, birth control pills, BPA plastics, and pesticides – all of which come from the efforts and successes of industrialized farming to support mankind unceasing demand! So, now, it is a full circle, the synthetic sources are finding its way back to human.
This is very worrying, indeed. These plastic fibers are so very, very small that they are int he air and can be breathe in by all living things. And, so small that they can penetrate cells. We are probably carrying these nanoplastics in us already!
It is becoming obvious that we do really need to rethink about the materials we use for our clothing and everyday use. It may seem more convenient to have nylon, rayon and all the synthetic materials but if this is going to be the future for planet Earth, we should do something and it is up to our generation to do it. No more waiting around. look at what the oceans are carrying in their waters – plastic everywhere. The turtles are dying from it, the whales are dying from it and even the birds are dying from it.
These 5 Marine Animals Are Dying Because of Our Plastic Trash … Here’s How We Can Help- http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/marine-animals-are-dying-because-of-our-plastic-trash/
It is good for us all to learn how we can do our little bit to help prevent further damage to Mother Eart.h.
Thank you, Rinpoche for highlighting this issue of plastics in our environment and how it has gone so small and insidious that we are consuming and breathing it in without our being aware of it.