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The disturbing discovery which could put you off your tea

Tea drinkers across the globe may begin looking at their warm beverages with a little less fondness following the emergence of new research suggesting a humble cup could be contaminated with billions of foreign particles.

A Canadian research team out of Montreal’s McGill University found plastic teabags release billions of microplastics and nanoplastics when dipped into a mug of hot water, posing an unknown risk to human health.

The study involved the pyramid-shaped silken teabags being dunked into hot water for five minutes at a time, then a sample of water being dried and analysed through a “powerful microscope”.

About 96 per cent of teabags produced worldwide contain polypropylene, which is helpful in ensuring the bags hold their shape.

Researchers found the teabags released about 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into the hot water after sitting in the liquid for just a few minutes.

Teabags pictured as Canadian study finds billions of microplastics are consumed with every cup.
Billions of plastic particles were found to be released from teabags. Source: File/Getty Images

The author of the research paper Dr Nathalie Tufenkji, a professor of chemical engineering, said they expected to discover tiny plastics in their thousands at most.

“We thought [plastic teabags] maybe release a couple of hundred [plastic] particles, maybe a few thousand. So we were really shocked when we saw they’re releasing billions of particles into a cup of tea,” she told Global News.

Dr Tufenkji said the idea to conduct testing came to her one day as she sat down for a cuppa and wondered if the plastic of the bag could be ending up inside her body.

Her suspicions were confirmed, but she said it was not yet known if the plastic in microscopic form was harmful to people’s health due to a lack of evidence.

Higher levels of plastic than other foods

The research paper stated the levels of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate particles released from the teabag packaging are several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods.

The plastic particles were found to be of the same origin as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a popular material in packaging food and beverages.

Cup of tea shown amid shock Canadian research findings confirming billions of plastic particles in every cup.
About 96 per cent of the worlds teabags were said to contain plastic particles. Source: File/Getty Images

In August the World Health Organisation released a report stating there were microplastic plastic particles in bottled and tap drinking water, but more research was required to determine if this posed a risk if ingested.

Andrew Mayes a chemistry teacher at Britain’s University of East Anglia, not connected with the WHO, said while he did not believe microplastics were cause for concern if consumed, they could well be doing damage in “unseen ways”.

“We know that these types of materials cause stress to small organisms. They could be doing a lot of damage in unseen ways,” he said in a statement released by the WHO.

A Word Wildlife Fund study released in June stated that small particles of plastics were spread throughout the environment and were practically unavoidable.

The research estimated that every week people could be consuming the same amount of plastic as in a credit card.

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