A video shows an ‘experiment’ which reveals that San Pellegrino contains graphene oxide.
Scientists have said the experiment does not show what is claimed and San Pellegrino manufacturers have previously said their water does not contain graphene oxide.
A video on Instagram and Facebook simulates ‘an experiment’ which claims to have made the “shocking discovery” that there is graphene oxide in a bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water.
However, graphene oxide is not an ingredient of San Pellegrino sparkling water and this claim was addressed as being false by Nestle, the parent company of San Pellegrino.
We have found earlier versions of this video on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube dating back to 2022. And we’ve seen numerous claims over the years about graphene oxide being an undisclosed ingredient of products, such as Covid vaccines.
False claims about the ingredients in food and drink risk causing unnecessary alarm to those who see them.
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Graphene oxide is a compound that is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It has many uses in industry and also various biomedical applications. Emerging research has suggested that graphene oxide may be useful in removing other contaminants and research is ongoing to determine what other potential uses graphene may have in the water purification industry.
Graphene and its derivatives have been shown to be toxic in both animals and in lab based studies. The degree of toxicity is dependent on the dose.
The ingredients list for San Pellegrino sparkling water does not include graphene oxide.
The ‘experiment’ simulated in the video appears to involve a device which passes an electrical current through the water, known as electrolysis. This process has various applications in industry including purification and extraction of metals. Amongst other effects, this process can lead to an electrode dissolving.
An article from fact checkers at the Australian Associated Press (AAP) concluded that this ‘experiment’ did not show graphene oxide in sparkling water. Scientists told AAP that it was not possible to conclude that the material in the video was graphene oxide and that it was more likely that the sediment was iron from the electrodes used. One of the scientists added that it was impossible to create solid carbon materials from water, pointing out that graphene oxide is mostly made of carbon.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate which regulates drinking water in England and Wales has confirmed that graphene oxide is not added or used for drinking water treatment.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the manufacturers have confirmed San Pellegrino sparkling water does not contain graphene oxide and scientists say the video doesn’t show this either.
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