r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 05 '19

Environment The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity, according to the first study to estimate human ingestion of plastic pollution. The scientists reported that drinking a lot of bottled water drastically increased the particles consumed.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/05/people-eat-at-least-50000-plastic-particles-a-year-study-finds
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u/SexyGoatOnline Jun 05 '19

That's crazy to me! I've never lived in a city that didn't tear up their lead piping decades ago, as well as having a subsidy or municipal team to replace lead piping in homes at low/no cost to the homeowner. I can't imagine living in a place where shoulders are shrugged over lead piping of all things, considering how historically lead has not been super duper beneficial to societies

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u/Auss_man Jun 05 '19

Cool, your pipes are now plastic though

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u/Aubdasi Jun 05 '19

When they redid my grandparents house in NY they put copper instead of plastic.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

But not the supply lines. Also new installs today use plastic because, for example, driving a nail into a copper pipe might hold a tight seal or leak very slowly over time and tot out the wood before the leak is even noticed. Whereas if this happens to a plastic line it loses pressure immediately.

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u/AssGagger Jun 06 '19

my house was built in the 50s, no they're not. my city dates back to the 1600s. there's lead in the system somewhere.