The Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research - Captain Charles Moore's New Nonprofit to Support State of California Safe Drinking Water Study

LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The presence of microplastics in tap and bottled water has raised the alarm throughout the scientific community as well as the governmental sector worldwide, prompting the State of California to initiate a methods development study in response to SB 1422 (California Safe Drinking Water Act). As a result, the State Water Resources Control Board will be adopting regulations requiring annual testing for, and reporting of, the amount of plastics in drinking water, including public disclosure of those amounts. 

Founded by Captain Charles Moore in 2020, The Moore Institute, together with 40 other laboratories from around the world, is participating in the study to standardize techniques for analyzing the amount of tiny plastic particles in our drinking water. The Institute is using its laboratory to complete the study, which is a first step in removing micro/nano plastics from the environment. California is creating a process to regulate plastics in drinking water to prevent Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) for human physiology initiated by micro/nano plastic particles. After completion, results will be compared to validate the study's methods.

Captain Moore's seminal 1999 study found more plastic than plankton in the Central Pacific. This finding shocked the public and environmental scientists, reinvigorating the field of micro plastic pollution research. As this field has matured over two decades, Moore saw the need for a new nonprofit to study the tiniest plastics shown to be invading our air, water and food. Formation of The Institute has answered that need. Twenty years of data collection and analysis will be its cornerstone as researchers focus on minute plastic particles and their quantity in the global biosphere.

Other Institute Initiatives: 1) The first long term (20 years) monitoring of micro plastics in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 2) The first comprehensive assessment of microplastics in the South Pacific Garbage Patch 3) Participation in California's methods development study. 4) The creation of kits for obtaining samples of air and water worldwide for analysis by the Moore Institute to obtain baseline data on global levels of environmental plastic pollution.

mooreplasticresearch.org

SOURCE Moore Institute