Risks of microplastic in bottled water

Bruce Gordon, coordinator of the WHO’s global work on water and sanitation, told BBC News that the key question was whether a lifetime of eating or drinking particles of plastic could have an effect.

"When we think about the composition of the plastic, whether there might be toxins in it, to what extent they might carry harmful constituents, what actually the particles might do in the body – there's just not the research there to tell us.

This comes as researchers found that 90% of the world’s most popular bottled water brands contain tiny pieces of plastic. Scientists at the State University of New York in Fredonia found concentrations as high as 10,000 plastic pieces for every litre of water.