More than 70 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with “permanent chemicals” linked to cancer and damage to reproductive and immune systems, according to a federal study.
These “forever chemicals” (officially known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)) are microscopic, man-made compounds that cannot be broken down by the body.
Federal Environmental Protection Agency report Testing this month of just one-third of America’s public water supplies exposed an alarming number of residents to “permanent chemicals.”
Of the 3,700 water systems inspected by the EPA, the most contaminated were found in densely populated areas such as New York, New Jersey, and parts of California and Texas.
EPA results were extrapolated and applied to the following demographics: analysis by the activist group Environmental Working Group (EWG). The Daily Mail first reported.
“The full scale of PFAS contamination is likely even more widespread,” an EWG spokesperson said, adding that the EPA report only provides a snapshot of the U.S. situation. It pointed out.
But residents of the Big Apple appear to have clean drinking water.
E.P.A. interactive map A study of PFAS contamination across the U.S. water system shows zero reports of “forever chemicals” on Manhattan Island.
Environmental groups in New York City also Website The Big Apple’s “drinking water is world-renowned for its quality.”
But water systems aren’t the only place where PFAS pose a threat to human health. According to , these chemicals are also found in food packaging, cooking utensils, clothing, and cleaning products, and are known to act as a protective barrier against heat, oil, and dirt in many household products. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The EPA’s report comes on the heels of another concerning study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found an average of 240,000 plastic particles in a 1-liter water bottle. This is 100 times more than what researchers had previously thought.
Scientists have compared levels of “nanoplastics”, which are less than 1 micrometer long, or 1/70th the width of a human hair, to the more commonly analyzed microplastics, which are between 1 and 5,000 micrometers long. Tested in comparison with.
But experts say nanoplastics potentially pose a greater health risk because they are small enough to penetrate cells and enter the bloodstream and can affect organs.
It can also cross a pregnant woman’s placenta and affect the fetus.
This new technology was used to test 1 liter water bottles from 25 different brands.
The researchers did not say which brands they tested, but they found between 110,000 and 370,000 tiny plastic pieces per liter, 90% of which were nanoplastics.
by mayo clinicAdult men should drink about 3.7 liters of water per day, while women should aim for 2.7 liters. This amount translates to an individual being exposed to as many as 888,000 or 648,000 plastic particles per day for men and women, respectively, if they choose to consume their water daily. Consume only from water packed in plastic containers.
Another study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society showed that microplastics in food and water in the United States cost the healthcare system $289 billion.
For reference, health care costs have increased by about $203 billion throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
