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Drinking Water Dangers–Ticking Time Bomb In WV: Authorities Ignore Cancer, Organ Damage: “…not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000.” (video and picture)
by Monica Davis
The feds and the state of Virginia are ignoring a ticking health time bomb. Unregulatd chemical spills into the nation’s waterways create toxic chemical hazards that are unregulated, ignored and often deadly. According to a New York Times article:
Because some of the diseases associated with drinking water contamination take so long to emerge, people who become ill from their water might never realize the source, say public health experts.
This is what we are looking at now, not only from the recent WV tank spill into the Ohio, but in the thousands of large and small chemical leaks, spills and tank failures which ooze, drain and gush into the nation’s waterways.
Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according toEnvironmental Protection Agencyestimates. 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, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.
The feds regulate lhan 100 chemicals that are in your drinking water at varioius times. There are 59000 other chemicals in our rivers that they do not regulater, and often don’t have tests for.
That means, until somebody notices that one of more of these chemicals has leaked into your river or drinking water source, you’ll never know it is there. Perhaps you develop cancer, liver disease, lung ailments down the road. You don’t know what caused it. Fate. Genetics. Poor dietary habit.
Anything but contaminated water, anything but filthy, poison water. Anything but lax regulation, industry threats, and firing of would be whistleblowers.
Federal officials have warned scientists to keep their mouths shut, not to talk about chemical contamination of our waters. And they are blocking government scientists from talking to the press.
Aaccording to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):
On January 15, Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette reported that EPA took nearly a week to publicly comment on the chemical spill, refusing repeated requests for interviews and failing to show up at any government briefings. Then yesterday, January 23, the reporter finally received answers to questions he had submitted to the agency—on January 15. (Full disclosure: former UCS Scientific Integrity Program Director Francesca Grifo recently left UCS to become the EPA’s Scientific Integrity Officer). MOREHERE
This is a week after babies experienced chemical burns. This is a week after people got rashes from bathing in the water. This is a week after the strange, licorice odor associated with the chemical rose from the drinking water like skunk scent in a crowded church.
And if leaking deadly chemicals into the river isn’t enough, the company was bought out in days, and the company that bought it declared bankruptcy. Nice isn’t it?
Government fines? Who’s going to pay them? Lawsuits over healthissues, class action lawsuits, medical bills, long term damages? Who’se going to pay them? Disability claims?
WHO IS GOING TO PAY THEM?
How about some of these facts?
- The plastic used in the bottled water Americans consume each year uses more than 47 million gallons (1.8 million liters) of oil — the equivalent of 100,000 cars on the road.
- The Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted a study of 100 US cities with populations of more than 250,000 and found more than 315 pollutants in the water — most of which are not regulated by government standards and can be legally present in any amount. The study showed the city with the best water was Arlington, Texas, and the worst water was found in Pensacola, Florida.
- Water utility companies in the US that serve areas of more than 100,000 people are required to send a water-quality report to all residents each July 1. In areas with fewer residents, reports can be requested individually from the water utility company. MOREHERE
Have you ever received a water quality report? And, if you have, how detailed was it? If it is ny measuring a handful of chemicals, is it worth the paper it was printed on?
