California tap water most toxic in nation; Harvard study finds deadly industrial chemicals used to fight fires, insulate pipes and more
by: Ethan A. Huff
NaturalNews.com
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
A new study out of Harvard University has some really bad news for you if you live in California, New Jersey, North Carolina or one of a handful of other American states: The water coming out of your tap may be contaminated with “life-threatening concentrations” of noxious chemicals used in pipe insulation, firefighting solutions, stain-proofing formulas and various other commercial and industrial products.
Also included in the mix are Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts and Illinois, and likely many other states as well, since the study wasn’t able to tabulate figures for roughly one-third of the country – states occupied by approximately 100 million people. Even so, the ones that were accounted for speak volumes about the slipping quality of our nation’s water supplies.
According to tests conducted at water sites throughout the country, many larger-scale water systems are deeply contaminated with polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, toxins collectively known as PFASs. PFASs have been used for more than 60 years in both industrial and commercial applications – in things like food wrappers, pots and pans and firefighting foam – and very little was known about where they went after their use.
We now know, however, that PFASs have been accumulating in water supplies for many decades. And since these chemicals have been definitively linked to hormone disruption, high cholesterol, obesity and even cancer – and unknown levels of them have been passing through inadequate wastewater treatment systems and into people’s tap water – it’s becoming clear that we have a major public health crisis on our hands.
“For many years, chemicals with unknown toxicities, such as PFASs, were allowed to be used and released to the environment,” says Xindi Hu, a doctoral student at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health, and one of the lead authors of the study. “We now have to face the severe consequences.”
PFAS-contaminated ‘sludge’ water used on commercial food crops as ‘fertilizer’
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