Business Daily Africa reports that The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) has launched its own investigation into a study created by scientists based at the State University of New York in Fredonia that found Dasani was among the major water bands contaminated by tiny pieces of plastic.
The study was commissioned by nonprofit media organization Orb and tested 259 bottles sold by 11 brands, which were purchased in 19 locations in nine different countries. Only 17 bottles did not contain plastics, with sized ranging from the width of a human hair to the size of a red blood cell. The scientists reportedly analyzed bottled water sourced from Kenya, Indonesia, India, the United States, Lebanon, Thailand, China, Mexico, Brazil and online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN).
Coca-Cola told Business Daily in a statement said it has “not verified the findings” and stated that it has some of the most stringent quality standards in the industry.
“We stand by the safety of our products, and welcome continued study of plastics in our environment,” Coca-Cola said, according to Business Daily. “However, as a precautionary measure we have constituted a project team that will carry out a similar study, with a view to ascertaining if the findings in the study are valid. This independent study will inform our subsequent course of action.”
Business Daily previously reported that the Atlanta-based beverage giant admitted to the presence of micro-plastics in Dasani water following the study’s release.
Coca-Cola told BBC that it had some of the most stringent quality standards in the industry and used a “multi-step filtration process,” but acknowledged that microplastics “appear to be ubiquitous and therefore may be found at minute levels even in highly treated products.”
There is currently no evidence indicating that ingesting small pieces of plastic is harmful, since there are currently no studies looking at the effects on the human body, Business Daily reports.
While Coca-Cola battles in America’s war against sugar, the company has made a major push toward bottled water. No move was bigger than its $220 million acquisition in October of Topo Chico, one of Mexico’s most popular sparkling waters. Mixed with its roll out of Dasani and SmartWater Sparking waters, the company’s sparkling water sales increased by 42 percent in the past five years, according to the Motley Fool.
