Levels of a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked with liver toxicity, developmental problems, tumour growth and hormonal disruptions exceed federally recommended safety levels in public drinking-water supplies for 33 states in the U.S. according to a new study led by researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The chemical contaminants that infest city water supplies in industrialized nations are abundant, including fluoride, chlorine and many others. What’s worse is that many of these chemicals are added intentionally under faulty and misguided science. To top that off, city officials are increasingly being caught for falsifying documents and submitting fraudulent water tests.
Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 80,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to EPA estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water.