Study finds plastic bits in water, beer products from Milwaukee
It looked at cities that tapped from Great Lakes
A new study has found an ingredient you might not have expected in beer: Microscopic bits of plastic.
The study published last month in the peer-reviewed journal, PLOS One, showed microplastics turned up in 33 water samples last year in seven cities that tap the Great Lakes, including the City of Milwaukee.
The others were Chicago; Duluth, Minn.; Holland and Alpena, Mich.; and Buffalo and Clayton, N.Y.
Scientists in recent years have reported that plastic residues are present in drinking water around the world, underscoring a growing body of research on the wide-ranging nature of air- and water-borne plastics and the ability of humans to consume them.
The latest analysis also found particles and strands of plastic fibers in beer, including one brand that’s brewed in Milwaukee.
In all, plastic particles showed up in 12 brands of beer purchased between January and April of last year that used water from all Great Lakes, including four beers whose water was sourced from Lake Michigan. Most of the beers were pilsners.
The authors are not identifying the companies but said they represent major bottlers and microbrewers. The study also looked at plastic particles in table salt.
“Our intention is not to shame anybody,” said Mary Kosuth, who worked on the study as part of her master’s degree at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
“We’re really just trying to find out how widespread this stuff is in the environment. It points to the fact that micro-
plastics are just so ubiquitous, so pervasive in our environment, that they are showing up in all kinds of products.”
One of Kosuth’s research partners was Sherri A. Mason, a leading expert on plastics pollution in Great Lakes waters.
The study estimated that, based on the average number of particles found in the beers tested, a person who drank such a 12-ounce beer daily would ingest on average nearly 520 particles a year.
Someone who drank a daily beer that contained the most particles found in the study would consume 1,800 particles a year.
The body of peer-reviewed research on the human impacts of microplastics is in its formative stages, but scientists and policymakers are increasingly concerned about it.
Plastics that end up in public water systems could come from myriad sources, ranging from shampoos and toothpastes with plastic as an ingredient to bags and containers that have broken down in the environment.
In 2015, Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation banning manufacturers from using tiny plastic beads in products after studies showed them turning up in the Great Lakes and other waterways.
Companies, meanwhile, are phasing out the use of such products.
A report on microplastics and nanoplastics by a science advisory committee of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in December 2015 concluded that “it is plausible that human exposures are occurring, and may lead to adverse health effects.”
Whether the water supply is the source of the plastic in the beer is unclear. One beer tested in Chicago had the highest number of plastic particles, and another had the lowest.
“We found no correlation between the source water and the amount of particles found in beer,” Kosuth said. “It seems to indicate, at least on a preliminary basis, that there could be something going on in the brewing process and not necessarily in the water.”
The plastics, she said, could be floating in the air. It could come from workers’ clothing. Or, she reasoned, microplastics could have been part of a beer ingredient.
In an email, Sandy Rusch Walton, spokeswoman for Milwaukee Water Works, noted that the study used a single water sample in Wauwatosa, which buys its water from Milwaukee.
She said Milwaukee filters its water with anthracite and coal, which she said is effective at removing particles. Water is tested for plastic byproducts and polymers, a federal requirement. But she said that none were detected, citing the city’s 2017 water quality report.