Your Tea Bag Is Likely Releasing Billions of Microplastic Particles, According to a New Study
www.foodandwine.com
Research from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain found that individual tea bags steeped in boiling water can release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles. Here's what to know.

Summary

A new study from Spain’s Autonomous University of Barcelona reveals that tea bags made from nylon, polypropylene, and cellulose release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles when steeped in boiling water.

These particles, which can enter human intestinal cells, may pose health risks, potentially affecting the digestive, respiratory, endocrine, and immune systems.

Researchers urge regulatory action to mitigate plastic contamination in food packaging.

Consumers are advised to use loose-leaf tea with stainless steel infusers or biodegradable tea bags to minimize exposure.

    • splinter@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      1 day ago

      Ok, it’s evident that reading papers of this sort is perhaps new-ish territory for you, but I sincerely commend your curiosity.

      To whit: if you read the Results and Discussion section of Banaei, you will find at least 5 inline citations that refer to other papers that have investigated plastic microparticle interaction with intestinal cells going all the way back to 2004, and multiple other papers discussing microparticle interaction with other cell types. What this paper does is absolutely not novel. It isn’t necessarily worthless, but it is very much not new.

      Per the methodological issues with Hernandez, there is a formalized process in scientific publishing for ensuring that critical discourse about a paper is presented alongside the original work. If you search for Hernandez (or any other paper) in PubMed and scroll down past the abstract, you’ll find related articles. If there are any formal comments/critiques/corrections, those will be listed first with a different subheading.