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Blake, Wm. Night IX, object 455. 1795.

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This week, scientists released new research that found bottled water is contaminated with up to 100 times more plastic than originally thought. Specifically, there are roughly 240,000 tiny plastic particles per liter. The bottled water industry is now saying no one should be afraid.

The International Bottled Water Association wrote in a statement: “Media reports about these particles in drinking water do nothing more than unnecessarily scare consumers. There currently is both a lack of standardized methods and no scientific consensus on the potential health impacts of nano- and microplastic particles.”

Many scientists, such as Columbia University’s Beizhan Yan, disagree. The tiny plastic particles “can cross into the blood, and then can cross the different barriers to get into the cells,” Yan said, which could cause them to “malfunction.”

Sherri Mason, director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend, took it a step further: “The chemicals can be carried to your liver and your kidney and your brain and even make their way across the placental boundary and end up in an unborn child.”