Just when you thought it was safe to drink bottled water, a new U.N. report raises concerns about what you may be
consuming: tiny particles of microplastics.
The just-published 124-page report from the World Health Organization (WHO) is the first major international study to
examine the potential human health risks caused by exposure to microplastics in drinking water — and it found there are
more microplastics present in bottled water than in tap water.
"Every day we are ingesting tiny, often microscopic pieces of plastic known as 'microplastics' with our food, beverages
and the air we breathe," the report warns.
Then this prestigious Lancet report from 2017.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(17)30121-3/fulltext
• The Lancet Planetary Health
Open Access
Published:October, 2017DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30121-3
QUOTE;
“Microplastics come from many sources: synthetic clothing fibres, dust from tyres, road paints, and the breakdown of
larger items.”
UNQUOTE;
Microplastic contamination seems more widespread than we perhaps knew, and they are regularly being ingested by people
worldwide.
Most concerning is how little is known about the effects of microplastic consumption on human health, it is no small
problem.
• We at CEAC believe ‘this is the elephant in the room now’ as we already know from the ‘NZ Ministry of Transport’
documented studies from the 2002 report entitled “Emission Factors for Contaminants Released from Motor Vehicles in NZ”
Fuels and Energy Management Group December 2002.
https://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/9fa2b3a10b/stormwater-emission-factors.pdf
That report shows that tyre particulates have many toxic chemicals that are known to be harmful to humans.
These are already found to be freely released in the tyre dust as we drive and are then washed off our roads into our
drains, streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers, and finally into our drinking water, so we are part of the problem already
now.
EV vehicles will still emit the same tyre dust toxins as regular gasoline vehicles do.
The new scientific German report
https://www.sott.net/article/418585-Plastic-particles-falling-out-of-sky-with-snow-in-the-Arctic
‘Raining plastic’ – QUOTE “fragments of rubber tyres”,
Tyre dust pollution was found by lead scientist, Dr Melanie Bergmann in the laboratory at Germany's Alfred Wegener
Institute in Bremerhaven discovered far more contaminating particles than they'd expected.
This clearly shows the gravity of the problems we have with too many oil based synthetic tyres used on our roads now.
These are important issues’ - to serious to ignore now.
We need to reduce truck freight now, and use at least half freight movement onto rail, as no tyres are used on rail.
CEAC is advocating for this Government to use rail to lower freight truck tyre emissions for climate change and our NZ
water quality.
Secretary.
Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre.