One Third of U.S. Drinking Water now Contaminated with "Unregulated Chemicals"

Image: wikimedia.org

Marco Torres | Prevent Disease

Widespread Contaminants in Drinking Water Across U.S.

Protecting public health shouldn’t be this hard. When it comes to chemical safety, Congress should shift the burden of proof from regulators to manufacturers. A recent survey conducted by researchers at the U.S. Geographic Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found traces of 18 unregulated chemicals in drinking water from more than one third of U.S. water utilities. Of the 21 total chemicals found, researchers discovered among them 11 perfluorinated chemicals, an herbicide, two solvents, caffeine, an antibacterial chemical, a metal and an antidepressant.

Preliminary findings were presented by scientists at an annual toxicology conference held by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry last month in Nashville.

Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 80,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to EPA estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water.

Regulated chemicals such as fluoride have been added to drinking water supplies for decades without any regard to long-term health. The fluoride added to 90% of drinking water is hydrofluoric acid which is a compound of fluorine that is a chemical byproduct of aluminum, steel, cement, phosphate, and nuclear weapons manufacturing.

According to a study, 50 chemicals capable of interfering with hormones is permitted in packaging in the United States and the European Union.

The American Chemistry Council significantly ramped up its lobbying efforts in 2012, spending more than double its total for any quarter in recent history.

Federal researchers took samples from 25 U.S. utilities from around the nation who voluntarily participated in the study, providing samples of treated and untreated water. Disturbingly, 18 of the chemicals found are not regulated under the Safe Water Drinking Act, meaning utility companies are not required to treat, limit, or even monitor for their presence.

Millions of Americans have been exposed since 2004 to drinking water that did not meet at least one commonly used government health guideline intended to help protect people from cancer or serious disease.
“The good news is the concentrations are generally pretty low,” said USGS research hydrologist Dana Kolpin, PhD. to Environmental Health News. “But,” he continued “there’s still the unknown. Are there long-term consequences of low-level exposure to these chemicals?”

While there is a paucity of data on some of the contaminants, regulated chemicals such as atrazine, metolachlor and triclosan found in drinking water samples have been demonstrably linked to serious human and environmental health problems. Atrazine, for example, is used nationwide to kill broadleaf and grassy weeds, primarily in corn crops. It has been shown to be harmful to humans, mammals, and amphibians even when the amount used is less than the government allows. Atrazine is also associated with infertility, low birth weight, and abnormal infant development in humans. The chemical’s use is widespread, but for agriculture its use in concentrated in the Midwest farmbelt.

There are 700 new chemicals introduced into commerce each year in the United States alone. Many of these chemicals induce cancer and other diseases in the human body, yet every year there are more disease-causing chemicals carelessly approved to further pollute our environment and water supplies.

In addition to atrazine, triclosan, caffeine, metolachlor, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and nine other perfluorinated compounds, which are used in a variety of industrial processes including production of nonstick or stain resistant products, were found in the drinking water supply. 251 chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and microbes measured were also detected in drinking water of more than a third of the 25 utilities while 113 were found less than a third of the utilities.

This study represents one of the few that documents how common emerging contaminants are in drinking water. Only four of the chemicals detected --the metal strontium, the herbicide metolachlor, PFOS and PFOA-- are now on EPA’s list of chemicals under consideration for inclusion in drinking water standards. They plan to finalize their decision for at least five contaminants on the list sometime next year.

Drinking tap water contaminated with PFOA is a serious health risk. The highest measured levels of PFOA in human blood in the US, other than factory exposures, are in people who have consumed PFOA contaminated tap water in West Virginia and Ohio. These people had PFOA levels in their blood 100 times higher than the levels found in the water, and far higher than the average person in the US.

PFOA is linked to developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, alterations in the hormonal levels, metabolic disturbances and an elevated risk of cancer.

“We’re hoping through this work the EPA will do a much more intensive contaminant candidate list and develop new methods and requirements for drinking water plants,” said USGS scientist Edward Furlong to Environmental Health News.

Unfortunately, regulations that protect U.S. waterways from chemical contamination, including contamination from pesticides, have been attacked by industry groups and Congress. Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), pesticide users who spray over waterways must have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. However, all that is required is to simply let authorities know what is sprayed and when it is sprayed, so that the public may know what chemicals are used in their waterways. There is no system of enforcement in place to prevent the pollution.

Sources:
preventdisease.com
examiner.com
beyondpesticides.org
environmentalhealthnews.org

Marco Torres is a research specialist, writer and consumer advocate for healthy lifestyles. He holds degrees in Public Health and Environmental Science and is a professional speaker on topics such as disease prevention, environmental toxins and health policy.

Why Monsanto's Roudup is the Most Toxic Chemical in the Environment

Rhonda Burns | GreenMedInfo.com

When one of our world renowned professors uses the term "horrifying" in speaking about the widespread use of a chemical in our food supply, the prudent person would sit up and take notice.

That's exactly the word Dr. Don Huber used. But are we listening? Calling glyphosate "the most toxic chemical we've ever had in our environment, he says that "future historians may well look back upon our time and write, not about how many pounds of pesticides we did or did not apply, but about how willing we were to sacrifice our children and jeopardize future generations for the massive experiment we call genetic engineering that is based on failed promises and flawed science, just to benefit the bottom line of a commercial enterprise."

Dr. Don Huber

In a lecture at the FAMU Center for Viticulture in Tallahassee, Florida, Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, shared his 55 years of experience working with agriculture management practices here in the U.S. and around the world.

One only has to look at the graphs (Dr. Nancy Swanson) which clearly depict a rise in modern disease that mirrors the use of glyphosate in our agriculture system to see the correlation. In addition to the rising rates of cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes, bowel disorders, intestinal infections, dementia, liver and kidney disease, by the year 2025 it is predicted that the autism rate for children will be 1 out of every 2 children born.

Horrifying is indeed the right descriptive.

Glyphosate and Autism

Contrary to the common claim of safety, a large volume of peer-reviewed scientific information clearly demonstrates that genetically engineered products and the Roundup herbicide that 85% of those products were engineered to tolerate are chronically toxic to human and animal tissues and lead to cancer, premature death, kidney and liver failure, blood disorders and a host of other diseases including Morgellan's Disease which was nonexistent prior to the use of glyphosate.

According Dr. Ron Huber, medical data indicates that millions of children and adults are suffering from the chronically toxic GMO products or the glyphosate (Roundup) these plants accumulate. He also stated that MIT scientists documented the biochemical disruption caused by genetic engineering, concluding that glyphosate is the most chronically toxic chemical in our environment. [see study here]

Glyphosate was made in 1964 as a strong metal chelator. In 1970, it was patented as a herbicide. In 2000, it was patented as an antibiotic. 85% of our genetically engineered crops are engineered in order to accept RoundUp herbicide with glyphosate as its primary agent.

The irony is that the promise of higher yield, lower cost crops are empty promises. Reduced root growth, lower nutrient density, greater stress susceptibility and the need for more pesticides are well documented. Sugar beets, for example, require 4X more fungicide after using glyphosate. Soybeans require 2X more water to grow. The crops grown are weaker, more susceptible to disease. It is estimated that if not for federal subsidies (crop insurance) last year, 20% of American farmers would have been bankrupt.

The potential economic impact is devastating on many levels. In two years, we may not have any market for our soybeans in China. The number one reason our exports are rejected today is excessive glyphosate. The number of countries around the world who are refusing to buy our exports is steadily growing.

While 65 countries around the world currently will not accept our GMO crops due to safety concerns, our own country has no such system in place. Instead, States are fighting one by one to at least have labeling laws in place for their citizens.

Here in Florida, Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasalinda (Dem) filed the first bill of the 2014 session, House Bill 1, on August 15, 2013 concerning labeling genetically engineered foods (link here). Representative Kathleen Peters (Rep) from the Pinellas County, Florida, is co-sponsoring the bill.

Representative Vasalinda was on hand at Dr. Huber's lecture and stressed the importance of letting our elected officials know how we feel about this issue. She said that it was due to the 1,500+ petitions she received that she even tackled the issue of GMO labeling. Our voices do count, but we have to speak up.

Source: GreenMedInfo.com