Tea drinkers could be getting more than they bargained for in their brew, as a new study has found that a single plastic tea bag can shed billions of particles of microplastics.
The researchers from McGill University in Canada have found that when plastic tea bags are steeped in a cup of almost boiling water (95oC), the bag releases about 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion smaller nanoplastic particles into the cup.
This amount is significantly higher than the estimated amount of microplastics particles consumed by a person in an entire year.
According to research published earlier this year, the average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastics annually and breathes in a similar quantity.
The researchers tested four different types of plastic commercial tea bags from shops and cafes in Montreal, which were cut open, washed and then steeped in near-boiling water for five minutes before being analyzed by electron microscopes and spectroscopy.
They found that a single bag released more than 11.6 billion microplastics, which was “several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods,” according to the study, which was published in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology.
Most tea bags are made from natural fibers, although many brands that use natural fibers still contain plastic to seal the bags.
Some brands have moved away from paper tea bags toward plastic bags, and it was these plastic bags that the researchers examined.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic, which the researchers defined as ranging from 100 nanometers to 5mm in size, which are mostly created by the disintegration of plastic litter.
Researchers have found microplastics in the air, soil, rivers and the deepest oceans around the world, as well as in tap and bottled water, seafood and beer.
Microplastics were also found in human stool samples for the first time in October last year.
The Canadian team tested the potential toxicity of the microparticles released from the tea bags by exposing water fleas to the contaminated water, finding the particles had behavioral effects and developmental malformations on the fleas.
There is no evidence so far that the ingestion of microplastics poses a risk to humans, according the WHO, but added that more research was needed to fully understand how plastic spreads into the environment and works its way through human bodies.
Researchers speculated that the reason for the high number of particles being shed by the tea bags could be that the plastic packaging had been in contact with boiling water, as even “food-grade” plastics might degrade or leach toxic substances when heated above 40°C
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained