Microplastics have become increasingly part of our daily life without most of us realising this yet.
WE ARE DRINKING MICROPLASTICS IN OUR WATER !

This is sad and shocking - and in its consequences concerning.
In this email I would like to offer you more understanding
about this growing problem and its health dangers.
In the latter part of this mail I show you how Ionza can help you
to remove plastics from your drinking water
with a specialised water filter which protects you from microplastics and to a large extend from nanoplastics.

best regards
Joseph Blessing - Ionza

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a review into the potential risks of plastic in drinking water after a new analysis of some of the world’s most popular bottled water brands found that more than 90% contained tiny pieces of plastic.

A study finds high levels of microplastics in tap water -
90% of global tap water is polluted already !

Scientists recorded a daily rate of 365 microplastic particles per square meter falling from the sky in the Pyrenees Mountains in southern France.

Microplastics now also in our rainwater !
“It was incredible how much microplastic was being deposited,” said Deonie Allen, a researcher at EcoLab in the School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Toulouse, France. There were no obvious sources for the microplastics within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the sample locations. This makes it very obvious that microplastics can travel in the air.

What are microplastics or nanoplastics ?
Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic that pollute the environment. They are fragments split over time, broken up from larger pieces being exposed to UV light and other physical influences in nature. They enter natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including plastic bottles, plastic bags, polystyrene, glitter, cosmetics, clothing and industrial processes.

The size of microplastics commonly between 5000 to 0.1(µm) micrometer
and nano plastics: 0,1 µm to 0,001µm ( = 1 bis 100 Nanometer)

The hidden bullet: micro plastics - the heavy metals accumulators
It’s also known that microplastics tend to be sticky and can accumulate heavy metals like mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are banned by the WHO due to its health dangers.

Microplastics in our food chain and drinking water: Consequences for our health ?
The WHO (World Health Organisation) release on endocrine-related diseases:
Plastics disturb our hormone function: The WHO says

Many endocrine-related diseases and disorders are on the rise

◦ Large proportions (up to 40%) of young men in
many countries have low semen quality, which
reduces their ability to father children.
◦ The incidence of genital malformations, such as
non-descending testes (cryptorchidisms) and penile
malformations (hypospadias), in baby boys has
increased over time or levelled off at unfavourably
high rates.
◦ The incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes,
such as preterm birth and low birth weight, has
increased in many countries.
◦ Neurobehavioural disorders associated with thyroid
disruption affect a high proportion of children
in some countries and have increased over past
decades.
◦ Global rates of endocrine-related cancers (breast,
endometrial, ovarian, prostate, testicular and
thyroid) have been increasing over the past 40–50
years.
◦ There is a trend towards earlier onset of breast
development in young girls in all countries where
this has been studied. This is a risk factor for breast
cancer.
◦ The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes has
dramatically increased worldwide over the last 40
years. WHO estimates that 1.5 billion adults worldwide
are overweight or obese and that the number
with type 2 diabetes increased from 153 million to
347 million between 1980 and 2008.

It's difficult to assert whether microplastics affect us as individual consumers from the air we breathe to both the tap and bottled water we drink, the food we eat or even the clothing we wear. Moreover, plastic isn’t one thing. It comes in many forms and contains a wide range of additives—pigments, ultraviolet stabilizers, water repellents, flame retardants, stiffeners such as bisphenol A (BPA), and softeners called phthalates—that can leach into their surroundings.

What about nano particles?

“No one should be surprised that microplastics are everywhere,” said Roman Lehner of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Nanoplastics are also everywhere but the technology to detect them well doesn’t yet exist, said Lehner, who is working on the problem.
Nanoparticles can have markedly different chemical and physical properties than the same materials at micro or larger sizes. One of the unique characteristics of nanoplastics is that because they are so small more atoms are on the surface of a particle compared to its volume. This makes them more chemically reactive. The potential risks to human health and the environment of nanoplastic particles maybe different from microplastics, said Lehner, who co-authored a new review of the potential risks.
Lab studies have shown adverse impacts of nanoplastics on aquatic organisms. Studies have shown that polystyrene nanoplastics ingested by aquatic organisms passed through cell walls. This appeared to change behavior and affected endocrine function of fish and other marine species.

Lab experiments have shown:
Nanoplastics cross cell walls in samples of human intestines
The implications of this fact are not even researched much.

Good news: At Ionza we have been active to stock filters to remove Microplastics and Nanoplastics from your drinking water.

We offer you the ULTRA ADD-ON Filter: it removes Mirco and Nanoplastic particles down to 0.01µm micro (=10 nanometer) and it also removes all bacterias and cysts!