More than 170 environmental groups signed the petition demanding that microplastics be monitored under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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More than 170 top environmental groups have signed a petition urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin monitoring microplastics in drinking water, reflecting a growing recognition of the pervasive presence of microplastics in the environment and the escalating concerns regarding their potential risks to human health.
The petition, submitted last month by Food & Water Watch, requests the EPA to begin monitoring microplastics as an emerging pollutant under the Safe Drinking Water Act starting from 2026 to protect public health. It was co-signed by 175 groups including Beyond Plastics, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for International Environmental Law, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.
Microplastics, tiny plastic particles resulting from the degradation of larger plastics, have been found pretty much everywhere – inside marine creatures and in mammal feces, in food and bottled water, and even in human blood. Because this is still a relatively new research field, scientists cannot yet fully estimate the long-lasting impact of these particles on animals and humans.
“The science is clear and alarming: Microplastics are everywhere in our world and in all of our bodies, posing a very serious threat to human health,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.
“We can’t wait another five years or more for the EPA to get serious about investigating the ways in which toxic microplastics pollute our water and invade our bodies.”
A study published earlier this year found that there are about a quarter of a million plastic particles in the average one-liter water bottle, up to 100 times more than previously estimated. Scientists looked at five different water bottles from three popular brands and found, on average, 240,000 particles from seven different types of plastic, mostly in the form of nanoplastics.
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