Report Finds “Probably Carcinogenic” Chemicals in All Municipal Water Samples Tested
•
Environmental Working Group (EWG) just released a report finding “probable human carcinogens” in every single municipal water sample tested, from 43 different states across the United States
•
Chlorine and other water treatment chemicals react with ordinary organic particles in the water to create hundreds of extremely toxic byproducts (disinfection byproducts, or DBPs), which aren’t regulated at all
•
Some DBPs are 1,000 times more toxic than chlorine and include trihalomethanes, VOCs, and haloacetic acids; trihalomethanes are linked with bladder cancer, miscarriages and stillbirths, among others
•
Some of the most dangerous DBPs come from water treated with the disinfectant chloramine; nitrosamines, for example, are 1,0000 times more toxic than chlorine
•
EPA regulates only nine of the more than 600 DBPs generated by chlorine and chloramine water treatment; farming is a major source of organic pollution in drinking water and a major contributor to DBP formation
|
|
|
|
