Is There Something in the Water?
Age doesn’t matter when you are in good health. Energy is youth. So in the spirit of lifelong health, I am alerting you to beware of dangerous chemicals that have been lurking in American waters for a long time. But they have been allowed to spread, going unreported and unchecked throughout our lifetimes. This is a time to call for transparency on all levels in our society.
Here’s the Scoop:
The Detroit Free Press has been covering an issue that should have been resolved at least 40 years ago.
In the late 1940’s, 3M Corporation made the wonder product PFAS, a compound that creates a water-repellent coating. It soon became known as “the forever chemical” because it doesn’t break down in nature. Yet as the harmful effects became known, chemical companies kept using it and the government allowed them to get away with it. It made a lot of money.
PFAS, which repels grease as well as water, can be used for consumer products such as:
- wrapping paper for hamburgers to microwave popping bags
- nonstick cookware
- carpet and upholstery stain guards
- waterproofing for shoes and clothes
- chrome plating
- dental floss
- foam used by firefighters.
Why Should You Care About PFAS in Michigan?
PFAS is now Michigan’s biggest environmental crisis since PBB. Why should you care about PFAS in Michigan if you don’t live here? The Free Press reports that PFAS is in the blood of 99% of Americans. We in Michigan are in the midst of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater area in the world, and they are being polluted. The Great Lakes go through Niagara Falls to the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Free Press reported:
“It has even been found in polar bears in the Arctic Circle, as the chemicals have worked their way up the food chain from fish and seals…
“Michigan may have more than 11,000 sites contaminated with these once-common chemicals, now linked to cancer and a host of other ailments. Regulators have identified 46 sites statewide with levels above the EPA’s health limit in groundwater.”
That level is huge!
And when PFAS get into your body, it isn’t pretty!
What Do PFAS Do to Your Body?
There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, but two of the most well-known are PFOS and PFOA. According to the Free Press:
“They have been linked to cancer; conditions affecting the liver, thyroid and pancreas; ulcerative colitis; hormone and immune system interference; high cholesterol; pre-eclampsia in pregnant women; and negative effects on growth, learning and behavior in infants and children.”
Isn’t There a Limit?
The EPA’s limit is a bit high at 70 parts per trillion, yet various readings have revealed sky-high levels reported. Here are just a few:
- 76,000 parts per trillion in drinking water in Kent County
- 1 million parts per trillion in groundwater at Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda
- 5,500 parts per trillion of PFOS in a tributary to the Huron River in Oakland County
The news report also stated that 17 rivers, lakes, streams and ponds throughout Michigan have “do not eat” fish advisories, or limitations on consumption of fish because of PFOS contamination, including Saginaw Bay, Lake St. Clair and portions of the Au Sable, Huron, Flint, Saginaw and St. Joseph rivers.
The Free Press quoted Robert Delaney, a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) remediation project manager. Delaney emphasized that he was speaking for himself and not the DEQ. He said,
“Industry understood that these chemicals were toxic maybe 40 years ago. And yet today, we’re having a hard time getting the federal government to address even two of the maybe 3,000 to 5,000 PFAS chemicals that are out there.”
David Andrews, senior scientist at the nonprofit, Washington-based Environmental Working Group (EWG) says,
“The whole system for regulating drinking water contaminants is completely broken…Nationally, there’s no dedicated effort to identify contaminated sites and clean them up. This issue is much bigger than PFOA and PFOS. There needs to be a national effort to understand and restrict these compounds.”
One headline within the breaking news article this week was “US is lagging behind in the fight against PFAS poisons.” The Free Press says,
“…[in the United States] the chemicals have never been outright banned, and their production shifted to China and other countries, so the contaminants continue to pollute the globe…It’s different in the European Union. Under their chemical regulations, prior registration is compulsory when a company intends to manufacture or import a ton or more per year of a particular substance. Regulators can limit or ban the production, marketing or use of certain substances if they are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to health or the environment.”
So Where Is Our Best Quality Water Going?
To top it all off, Nestle pays $200 annually for a permit to pump water from its own wells, including its well outside of Evart, Michigan, from which it already pumps 130 million gallons of water each year. The New York Times quoted Jeff Ostahowski, vice president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation as saying:
“Having anybody take away some of the very best water that should be going into the creeks and the Muskegon River and eventually Lake Michigan, that’s a big deal. That Nestlé does it for free? That’s just crazy.”
If we, as citizens, are surrounded by products that contain PFAS and we’re not aware and our best groundwater is being pumped away for free…if there is no oversight of public health, then we are living in a primitive condition. The companies certainly know. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND THEY DON’T CARE IF IT’S KILLING US!
So is it in your water? Is it in mine? Is it in our blood? Obviously, there’s a 99% chance of that in Americans. And we should have known about this decades ago, when we were young and our children were growing up, right?!
What I am doing so far:
I bought a drinking water sampler kit but became complacent and never used it. I thought our tap water was probably being cleanly processed. Now I’m going to use it.
I’ve been using distilled water for my coffee. But since reading these articles, I bought a pitcher to filter our drinking water. Heat doesn’t seem to destroy the chemicals, so you have to be careful about what water you use for cooking as well. The newspaper advised that people will need whole-house filtering systems if they find that there is PFAS or PFOS in their tap water. But you must be mindful that such systems can remove the trace of chlorine essential for stopping bacterial formation in your plumbing, including aerator screens.
Let’s Connect!
What do you think about this? Are you worried? Outraged? What do you think you might do about it? Please join in the conversation. Leave a reply below!
Like this post? You might also like to read:
- “Do You Want to Know the Truth About Your Food?”
- “Is Your Lipstick Killer in More Ways Than One?”
- and other posts in my “Lifelong Health” category.
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