(Aditya Shaw, Intern Journalist): Bottle-fed children can swallow millions of microplastics each year. This has been revealed in the new research. Researchers have evidence that humans consume large quantities of small plastic particles unknowingly, but very few people are aware of the effects on health. These small particles are formed when large particles of a plastic break.
Researchers in Ireland have researched the rate of breakdown of children’s baby bottles or accessories made of polypropylene. It is the most commonly used plastic in food containers. Researchers have followed the official guidelines of the World Health Organization on how to make and sterilize milk. The test lasted for 21 days and researchers found that the bottles left between 13 lakh and 1.62 crore plastic microparticles per liter.
Researchers used this data to create a global risk model of potential microplastics while feeding babies from bottles based on national average rates of breastfeeding. Researchers estimated that on average, 10.60 million microparticles are swallowed by bottle-fed children during the first 12 months of their lives.
The research was published in the journal Nature Food and researchers say that sterilization and high water temperatures are the main reason for the breakdown of microplastics. The main goal of the research is not to put parents in concern about the potential health risks of the microplastic coming out of the bottle.
Team members say that there is not much information about the potential risks of swallowing microplastic particles in children. This is a subject that needs more research and we are constantly working on it. The authors reported that children in developed countries are swallowing the most microplastic particles.
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