While the elevated lead levels in the Flint, Michigan water supply have been the subject of much media coverage in recent months, new research published this week in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters reveals that similar issues are affecting millions of Americans.
The study, led by Xindi Hu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, reveals that as many as six million people throughout the US are drinking water containing unsafe levels of toxic industrial chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Hu’s team analyzed levels of polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), chemicals that repel oil and water and are typically used in paint, non-stick cookware and clothing, in more than 36,000 water samples and found that as many as six million Americans are consuming H2O that contains unsafe levels of these chemicals, which have been in use for six decades.
“For many years, chemicals with unknown toxicities, such as PFASs, were allowed to be used and released to the environment, and we now have to face the severe consequences,” Hu, who is a doctoral student at the Chan School, explained in a statement. She added that the problem may even be more widespread, as “government data for levels of these compounds in drinking water is lacking for almost a third of the U.S. population – about 100 million people.”
“Virtually all Americans are exposed to PFAS,” which, as Hu told ResearchGate, is a problem since the chemicals “have been linked to a wide range of adverse health effects including kidney cancer, elevated cholesterol, obesity and endocrine disruption,” leading the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add them to a list of contaminants and several companies to begin phasing out their usage in their products.
Industrial sites, military bases among areas with highest PFAS levels
According to CNN and Reuters, Hu’s team examined more than 36,000 water samples that had been collected by the EPA between 2013 and 2015, testing each of them for six kinds of PFASs. In addition, they looked at industrial sites where the chemicals are used or manufactured, as well as military training sites or airports that use fire-fighting foam containing the substances.
They detected PFASs at EPA-mandated minimum reporting levels in 194 out of the 4,864 water supplies across 33 states studied, and reported that 66 of those public water sources contained at least one sample measuring at or above levels deemed unfit for human consumption. The highest levels were found near industrial sites, military bases and wastewater treatment plants.
Three-fourths of those unsafe drinking water supplies were found in 13 states, led by California, according to the study authors. The others, in order of detection frequency, included New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Illinois. So does this mean that people living in those states should stop using tap water and stock up on bottles of imported spring water?
“Not necessarily,” Hu told ResearchGate on Tuesday. “Concerned residents should talk to their local department of health to ask for more information about PFASs in their drinking water. The drinking water in Hoosick Falls, NY, was found to have very high concentrations of PFASs, and residents were advised to stop drinking tap water until the public water supplies were able to reduce PFASs to acceptable levels.”
—–
Image credit: Thinkstock
Comments