More microplastics found in glass bottles than plastic bottles: Study

New research on microplastics is raising concerns about beverages contained in glass bottles

France's safety agency released new findings Friday. It shows certain drinks in glass bottles contain more microplastics than those in plastic ones

The unexpected discovery is reigniting a conversation about the labeling and packing process for these drinks

The study involves sodas, beer, lemonade, iced tea, and water sold in a variety of bottles in France

Scientists discovered glass bottles on average contain 100 microplastics per liter, while plastic bottles had much fewer

In some instances, levels in plastic bottles were 50 times lower than those of glass bottles

Researchers say they expected the opposite to be true. Scientists say most of the microplastics in glass bottles come from paint on the caps

They say caps often rub up against each other in storage, leading to tiny scratches invisible to the naked eye

Researchers are still unsure how the microplastics wind up in our drinks during the bottling and storage processes Beer saw the most microplastics per liter with an average of 60 particles Water saw the lowest levels with as few as 1 particles per liter Wine also showed

very few microplastics, even those with caps on glass bottles. That is another aspect of the study

that the team says they're looking into. Scientists say drink manufacturers could easily reduce the

amount of microplastics in bottles by better cleaning caps. They note that by a simple

cleaning with air, water, and alcohol, they can reduce contamination by 60 percent. While the

long-term impacts of consuming microplastics are still being explored, recent studies show humans

already intake about a credit card's worth of plastics each week. Research shows microplastics

in the body have been linked to dementia, cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. But scientists involved

and France's studies say the risk to our health posed by microplastics in bottles is still largely

unknown. They say that's because there is currently no way to measure the amount of

microplastics that are safe to consume, if any. For more on this story, download the

Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey