Study: High levels of toxic chemicals in drinking water of 6 million Americans

[cali]

More than 6 million Americans are drinking water laced with unsafe levels of chemicals linked with cancer and other illnesses, a new report indicates.

Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences found that levels of a certain class of chemicals -- called polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs -- are above what's recommended by the federal government in many public drinking water sources.

Study author Xindi Hu told CBS News, "We are interested in this group of compounds -- PFASs -- because they're widely used in a lot of applications."


According to the Environmental Protection Agency, PFASs are used in a broad range of consumer goods, such as cleaners, textiles, leather, paper and paints, fire-fighting foams, and wire insulation.

Food packaging is another source of PFASs, said Hu, a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School and Environmental Science and Engineering at SEAS.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/toxic-chemicals-in-drinking-water-6-million-americans/

[SheriffBob]

1. here in NC

have the coal ash problem and officials
have lied to the people about it.

They are poisoning the people.

[cali]

2. Thanks for that information, SB. I'm really interested in the deterioration of our water supply.

[SheriffBob]

3. you are welcome

thank you too.

btw, my next door neighbor was diagnosed that he has cancer.

[cali]

4. I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor. Bob, do you have any links

to more info about this situation in NC- preferably local ones?

[SheriffBob]

5. not local but concise

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pricey-harrison/the-coal-ash-money-train_b_9463948.html

[cali]

6. Wow. How corrupt is your miserable excuse for a human being, McCrory?

from your link:

<snip>

Normally, citizens could seek a remedy in the courts when state governments do not adequately regulate coal ash. Yet in North Carolina, that’s become increasingly difficult given the pay-to-play system that has replaced the innovative public financing program for judicial candidates - a program that Governor Pat McCrory eliminated in his first few months in office. Without public financing, judicial candidates must turn to deep-pocketed donors for the money needed to mount a successful campaign. Those private donors in turn may see favorable decisions in court.

We shouldn’t be surprised to find that Governor McCrory—a Duke executive for 28 years—has conveniently failed to enforce environmental regulations and faced federal investigation for doing so. Corporate polluters have spent big to elect legislators in North Carolina. We can expect that, when it comes to coal ash, Gov. McCrory will yield to his corporate ties and neglect to defend the health of North Carolinians, especially the poorest among us.

<snip>

I never heard of this story. It's appalling.

[SheriffBob]

7. local link

http://www.wral.com/mccrory-vetoes-coal-ash-bill/15758085/

[Igel]

8. Link to pdf of publication

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00260


I always wonder about tests that have "at least one sample" wording associated with them. If you test a water supply that 200,000 people use, take 60 samples, and one exceeds the maximum allowable limit while 59 are well below it, what does that mean? It's not the water supply as a whole, else we'd expect more than 1 sample to be high. If there are more than 1 (say, 5) out of 60 that are high, then you can try mapping them. Or checking to see if they have something in common--perhaps the water was purified while some equipment malfunctioned, or there was some spike in the well or surface water concentrations.