Cancer-causing chemicals found in drinking water of 6M Americans

The presence of industrial chemicals linked to cancer and other health issues exceed federally recommended safety levels in the drinking water of 6 million people in the U.S., according to a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

For the study, researchers attempted to detect and establish the concentration levels of six types of polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, in more than 36,000 water samples taken by the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2015. Researchers found that 66 of the water supplies examined had at least one sample with levels above the EPA safety limit of 70 parts per trillion for two types of PFASs. These water supplies provide 6 million Americans with drinking water.

"For many years, chemicals with unknown toxicities, such as PFASs, were allowed to be used and released to the environment, and we now have to face the severe consequences," said lead author Xindi Hu, a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in Boston. "In addition, the actual number of people exposed may be even higher than our study found, because government data for levels of these compounds in drinking water is lacking for almost a third of the U.S. population — about 100 million people."

PFASs have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption, high cholesterol and obesity.

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