14 DAY TRIAL // Ontario's Grand River contains loads of artificial sweeteners, and people are the ones to thank for it, a new paper in the journal PLOS ONE argues. The researchers who pieced together this report work with Environment Canada and the University of Waterloo.
In their paper, the specialists detail that, in order to document the chemical makeup of Ontario's Grand River, they collected and analyzed water samples from as many as 23 different sites spread along the water source's entire length.
It was thus discovered that said river currently contains surprisingly high concentrations of artificial sweeteners such as cyclamate, saccharin, sucralose and acesulfame, Huffington Post reports.
What's interesting is that, for the time being at least, Ontario's Grand River appears to contain more sucralose, cyclamate, and saccharin than any other water source in the world.
“Cyclamate, saccharin, sucralose, and acesulfame were found in elevated concentrations despite high rates of biological activity, large daily cycles in dissolved oxygen and shallow river depth,” the researchers write in the Abstract to their paper.
“The maximum concentrations that we measured for sucralose (21 µg/L), cyclamate (0.88 µg/L), and saccharin (7.2 µg/L) are the highest reported concentrations of these compounds in surface waters to date anywhere in the world,” they further explain.
Apparently, these artificial sweeteners have managed to enter said water source due to the fact that they are intensely used either to make various treats, or as a substitute for sugar.
The Environment Canada and University of Waterloo researchers say that, as surprising as this may sound, it can happen that these compounds work their way out of wastewater treatment systems unscathed, and eventually end up on nearby rivers, streams or lakes.
“Artificial sweeteners have been widely incorporated in human food products for aid in weight loss regimes, dental health protection and dietary control of diabetes. Some of these widely used compounds can pass non-degraded through wastewater treatment systems and are subsequently discharged to groundwater and surface waters,” the specialists who worked on this investigation argue.
Presently, it is unclear if and how the presence of said artificial sweeteners in Ontario's Grand River affects local aquatic wildlife.