Summary
A new study from Spain’s Autonomous University of Barcelona reveals that tea bags made from nylon, polypropylene, and cellulose release billions of micro- and nanoplastic particles when steeped in boiling water.
These particles, which can enter human intestinal cells, may pose health risks, potentially affecting the digestive, respiratory, endocrine, and immune systems.
Researchers urge regulatory action to mitigate plastic contamination in food packaging.
Consumers are advised to use loose-leaf tea with stainless steel infusers or biodegradable tea bags to minimize exposure.
No!
biodegradable tea bags
You want “compostable” or better, “home compostable”. Biodegradable is a word that is completely twisted, and items that include plastics will use that word no matter how untruthful it is to the spirit of the meaning.
No it doesn’t. This study is unscientific garbage and should be retracted.
Their “simulation” of making tea involved 300 teabags boiled in 600ml of water at 95 C while being stirred at 750rpm for an unspecified amount of time. They then took counts using undiluted samples of that liquid.
It isn’t clear why they chose such an absurd methodology, but it is absolutely spurious to draw conclusions from this about teabags used under normal conditions.
“The study shows that, when brewing tea, polypropylene releases approximately 1.2 billion particles per milliliter, with an average size of 136.7 nanometres; cellulose releases about 135 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 244 nanometres; while nylon-6 releases 8.18 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 138.4 nanometres.”
What do you mean no it doesn’t?
So if you extrapolate the data, that’s 1 teabag per 2 ml water. Let’s be generous and say that 1 ml is about what you’d get in a cup of tea. That’s 8.18 million to 1.2 billion particles per teabag depending on the type. Let’s be generous and cut that in half due to the RPM of stirring. Maybe cut that in half again for that unspecified amount of time. Hell, let’s cut it in half again because maybe you brew at lower than 95 C. On the low end, we still have 1 million plastic microparticles per teabag. That’s insane.
I mean nothing about the methodology is even close to representing normal tea brewing behavior.
For starters, a typical cup of tea is around 300-350ml, not 2ml and certainly not 1, so the low end is already down to 23,371 particles even before accounting for the brewing technique.
Secondly, nobody holds their tea at an active boil while stirring it at 750 rpm. That’s virtually blending it. There isn’t a meaningful way to compare that to typical tea brewing behavior but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it produced 10,000x more particles.
Right. You still drink 300-350 ml per cup. It doesn’t matter if you did 1 teabag per 300 ml or 300 teabags per 300 ml. In the first instance, you would have to measure 300 ml to get the X particles per cup. In the second instance, you can get the X particles per ml which is effectively per cup, or more accordingly, per teabag. It’s the same. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think your math of 23k particles per teabag is not mathing.
Also, usually you don’t measure 1 teabag because of individual variability, so what they are doing is getting the average amount of particles from those 300 teabags. Much more accurate.
They likely are using a magnetic stir bar. 750 RPM will not virtually blend it. This video shows it going at 3000 RPM max for reference. (https://youtu.be/fzzV75aMM1c) In a large container, the water at the bottom will be swirling faster than the water at the top. And also, 95 C will not be at an active boil - that’s at 100 C. It suggests to me that they boiled water, then poured it into the teabag beaker.
I think that maybe you haven’t worked in a lab before, so it seems like the methodology isn’t right, but as a scientist, this passes the sniff test for me. Honestly, this part isn’t even the novel part of their study - the interesting part is that they found that intestinal cells took up the particles, but I digress.
I think you might have skimmed over the methods, but think what the OP was trying to say is:
Concentration: 300 tea bags / 600mL = 1 teabag per 2mL (175 tea bags in one 350mL cup of tea, doesnt appear typical?)
Mixing: 750rpm × [1m/60s] = 12.5 rotations a sec (Awfully fast to be stirring tea, constantly)
Incubation time: Not specified. (They could have left boiling overnight?)
There seems to be many points about the methodology that raise eyebrows. Maybe it’s ok if you want to use this method to purify particles for structural analysis or test toxicity on cells, but it doesn’t seem fair to present this as “release of micro/nanoplastics (MNPLs) from polymer-based teabags into the aqueous phase during typical usage”, as the amounts seem exaggerated.
You can’t draw any real world conclusions from this methodology.
Apples are safe to eat even though the seeds contain arsenic. Take a bunch of seeds and put them in a blender and test it. That test will show them being toxic.
I would like to see a methodology that is closer to real world use. No way to know if it’s a real problem.
Eat the seeds. Your tolerance is going to spite your enemies.
So can I still have my tea or what? I’m inclined to trusting you over some barcelonians
Yeah, just don’t put your teabag in a blender.
I think the new eu bottle caps as well(even when using milk cartons) becuse when you open it they usually have a piece sticking out on the cap that catches on the threads to keep it open, and sometimes i see small plastic pieces flying everywhere when i open one of them. Presumably the plastic catch is breaking pieces of the thread off.
C O O L
O
O
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This warning only applies to the pyramid tea bags and not the paper sachet.
Phew! Thought I was giga fucked there for a minute
The square with crimped edges bags have plastic in the paper so that the edges will fuse closed.
It did list cellulose bags as one source, however I don’t quite understand how. Additive to strengthen the material?
Plastic coating to make the bag more resistant to heat.
Cellulose isn’t plastic though, it’s the sugar that makes up plant cell walls, like wood. Cotton fibers are 90% cellulose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose
I’m confused why they included cellulose without clarifying that it’s not a petrochemical, unless cellulose micro and nano particles are also an issue now. Maybe I should read the original study…
What I meant to say is that the cellulose is coated with plastic. I learned this from another post in the same thread.
They close the bags with a dot of plastic based glue so it doesn’t open
Oh my god. I think I’ll just go back to my teapot.
How many micro plastics are released when I cry?
You can still cry? I’m jealous.
I sell the tears on Etsy, it’s the only way I can support my Nestle milk addiction
Nestle
Ah, now I see why you cry so much, now.
Drink nestle milk, cry of guilt, sell, profit $
You should start an OnlyFans where you post videos of yourself crying into tiny bottles.
Take this down rn and stop spreading my $1000 idea. My lawyers will be in touch
If you make a video of yourself filling a tiny jar with tears in an entertainingly dramatic way… I’ll give you $20 USD. Real tears required, at least .2oz jar. Like, a dollhouse wine bottle.
Please. I need this.
What isn’t releasing billions of microplastic particles? We’re fucked.
When someone is getting laid and he drops a load in her, he’s probably injecting microplastics.
Just a thought for next time you are in bed with someone.
Bro, I prescreen each injection for microplastics before sowing the oats. It’s just common courtesy. Don’t ask me about my reload process, if you have to ask you can’t afford it.
Is this the one where you take a turkey baster and insert it?
Totally slightly different method.
remember, microplastics are formed in the balls
And if you don’t- the condom? Also releasing microplastics. That glass of water you have afterwards because you’re all hot and sweaty and thirsty? Also full of microplastics.
As long as you’re using latex/nitrile condoms you should be good as latex and nitrile aren’t plastics. Some of the alternatives for people with latex allergies can have plastic in them though.
Good to know, thanks for sharing that article!
gg plastic won
“This stuff is awesome! We can make it into any shape we want, it’s cheap, and amazingly durable! MAKE ALL THE THINGS PLASTIC!”
We never stood a chance.
When we had no clue, I mean yeah, sucks, but live and learn. But the fact that all of this evidence has emerged and not much has changed is what’s enraging.
The manufacturers had a clue long before we did. Just like leaded gasoline. And fossil fuels in general. And cigarettes. And so on. Nothing changes until governments step in, which sends the “captains of industry” into tantrums like the spoiled pissbabies they are.
That is even more enraging.
cigarettes
Speaking of, cigarette butts / discarded filters are a major source of microplastic pollution.
Smell that sheepskin condom?
You just inhaled plastics.
How dare you comment. You just released microplastics! Wait, so am I!!!
My tinfoil hat theory is that we’re going to find out that toothbrushes are a major source of them
Not even micro. There is a nonzero chance you’ve ingested the bristles at some point
Oh they are.
Vegans hate this one trick to avoid microplastics from toothbrushes; horsehair toothbrush.
Also, you guys rinse your mouths, right?
Rinse your mouth? No thank you, I swallow it all! I paid for that toothpaste and I’m getting my money’s worth.
I wonder if I am. Do I have enough in me that I’m emitting them?
Yes.
Consumers are advised to …
Consumers are advised to check whether tea bags in their region are even made of these materials.
Edit: Also, “billions”? The cookie warning is borked on the foodandwine.com article so I can’t read it but: https://www.dpa-international.com/trends-and-features/urn:newsml:dpa.com:20090101:250109-99-540705/ “Tea bags releasing ‘millions’ of microplastics into tea, study shows” - where does that difference come from?
From the article:
To come to this conclusion, the team tested tea bags made from nylon-6, polypropylene, and cellulose, all typical packaging for teas. They found that when brewing tea, “polypropylene releases approximately 1.2 billion particles per milliliter, with an average size of 136.7 nanometres; cellulose releases about 135 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 244 nanometres; while nylon-6 releases 8.18 million particles per milliliter, with an average size of 138.4 nanometres.”
Cellulose is just plant fiber. You’re literally boiling tea leaves which are themselves made of plant fiber! This is silly.
This is not silly; the study is not to determine if these are harmful or not, just what’s released from boiling a teabag.
I’m not knowledgeable in this area of research nor am I about to spend an hour going over the paper to write this comment, but collecting data on seemingly mundane things is important too.
