There are plenty of chemicals that the EPA requires municipalities to check on and limit in their water supplies. But there are more and more that aren't on this list. As a result, an advocacy group is very concerned about the safety of women and children in America.
A nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., Environmental Working Group (EWG), wrote to the EPA in August, 2008 (www.ewg.org/node/27005). A senior scientist with EWG, Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., took up water safety. She asked that the EPA set standards to protect children and pregnant women from chemical contaminants in tap water.
The current EPA system involves listing questionable chemicals, including prescription drugs and agricultural chemicals, and then deciding not to regulate the bulk of them. She charged the EPA with "shielding toxic water pullutants from regular scrutiny," using this listing process.
She listed eleven significant contaminants currently exempt from EPA regulations. The EPA, she said, claimed that none of the contaminants "were found nationally at levels of public health concern in public water systems."
But the EWG study team discovered significant levels of exposure to four toxins, in reviewing EPA data. It found that dacthal, a herbicide, contaminated water served to 486,000 people in six states. In addition the study found significant exposures to aldrin, a neurotoxic form of dieldrin, and to soil fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene.
In addition, a USGS study by Kolpin and others in 2002 (Environmental Science Technology 36(6)) showed that veterinary and human antibiotics, as well as prescription and nonprescription drug and anti-microbial compounds, are frequently found in our streams, said Naidenko. Many of these streams serve as important sources of drinking water. These potent compounds are all unregulated at this time, wrote Naidenko. - 15437
A nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., Environmental Working Group (EWG), wrote to the EPA in August, 2008 (www.ewg.org/node/27005). A senior scientist with EWG, Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., took up water safety. She asked that the EPA set standards to protect children and pregnant women from chemical contaminants in tap water.
The current EPA system involves listing questionable chemicals, including prescription drugs and agricultural chemicals, and then deciding not to regulate the bulk of them. She charged the EPA with "shielding toxic water pullutants from regular scrutiny," using this listing process.
She listed eleven significant contaminants currently exempt from EPA regulations. The EPA, she said, claimed that none of the contaminants "were found nationally at levels of public health concern in public water systems."
But the EWG study team discovered significant levels of exposure to four toxins, in reviewing EPA data. It found that dacthal, a herbicide, contaminated water served to 486,000 people in six states. In addition the study found significant exposures to aldrin, a neurotoxic form of dieldrin, and to soil fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene.
In addition, a USGS study by Kolpin and others in 2002 (Environmental Science Technology 36(6)) showed that veterinary and human antibiotics, as well as prescription and nonprescription drug and anti-microbial compounds, are frequently found in our streams, said Naidenko. Many of these streams serve as important sources of drinking water. These potent compounds are all unregulated at this time, wrote Naidenko. - 15437
About the Author:
We've found out that toxins and prescription drugs are in our water supply. Want to keep your family safe? Looking for clean, pure water, toxin-free, yet keeping the essential minerals needed for health? If you are worried about the quality of our tap water (and of our bottled water, which is often the same as tap water), find out about a home water filter at www.home-water-filter.info
