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6 Million Americans Exposed To High Levels of Chemicals In Drinking Water, Says Study (businessinsider.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Business Insider: A new study out Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters looked at a national database that monitors chemical levels in drinking water and found that 6 million people were being exposed to levels of a certain chemical that exceed what the Environmental Protection Agency considers healthy. The chemicals, known as poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, are synthetic and resistant to water and oil, which is why they're used in things like pizza boxes and firefighting foam. They're built to withstand the environment. But PFASs also accumulate in people and animals and have been observationally linked to an increased risk of health problems including cancer. And they can't be easily avoided, like with a water filter, for example. You can view the chart to see the tested areas of the U.S. where PFASs exceed 70 ng/L, which is what's considered a healthy lifetime exposure.

3 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ahh: More than you think: Bottling plants... by Fallen+Kell · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You fail to realize that there are quite a few bottling plants located in some of those high affected regions. Guess where all the Pepsi in the USA is made? Yep, right in the middle of this highest concentrations of both those chemicals on the map (eastern PA, NJ, southern NY). That also goes for all Pepsi products, not just Pepsi itself...

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    We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
  2. Xenoestrogens, fluoride, and other nasty chemicals by DatbeDank · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The more startling aspect of this drinking water pollution are the levels of xenoestrogens. Between HFCS, sedentary lifestyles, and now all sorts of medical chemicals floating around in our drinking water humans are suffering a, "death by a thousand cuts" so to speak. Hormone disrupting chemicals are affecting wild animals as well.

    You can fight most of these, but some are more nefarious. I drink upwards of a gallon of water a day because of my work. Thankfully it's a very active (foreman) gig, but at the same time it still has me concerned. I can't use my reverse osmosis home system when i'm away at work!

  3. Re:More than one type? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There seems to be a new type of denier. Maybe we can call them "danger deniers" or something, or Famous Last Worders (FMLs). They think that because everyone else is an idiot something must be safe, be it a particular chemical or nuclear contamination or some machine.

    Examples:

    1. Oh god, not chemicals! Tell me there's not dihydrogen monoxide in my drinking water!
    2. Oh noes, not noocular radiashun!!
    3. Statistically auto-pilot is safer than humans!
    4. Everything gives you cancer!

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    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC