Research has shown high levels of forever chemicals, arsenic, and lead in water samples across the U.S. This data comes from a nine-month investigation by Consumer Reports and The Guardian.

The passage of Clean Water Act in 1972 has made access to clean water a Government priority but millions of people are without safe drinking water. Contamination, deteriorating infrastructure, and inadequate treatment of water plants are all to blame for the lack of safe water. Inadequate drinking water is more common in lower-income areas across the country.

Recommended: How to Eliminate IBS, IBD, Leaky Gut 

Consumer Reports and The Guardian looked at water from 120 people across the U.S and tested for arsenic, lead, PFAS, and other contaminants. The samples collected come from water systems that service more than 19 million people. The data collected showed that 118 of the 120 samples had PFAS, arsenic levels above Consumer Report’s recommended maximum, or detectable levels of lead.

In response to the findings, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Andrea Drinkard says that 93% of the population supplied by community water systems gets water that meets “all health-based standards all of the time” and that the agency has set standards for more than 90 contaminants. That includes arsenic and lead but does not include PFAS.

We sampled tap water across the US – and found arsenic, lead and toxic chemicals

The Guardian breaks down all the data collected and goes into the health concerns the findings bring up. You can read that article here.

Consumer Reports tested 300 samples (458 pounds) of hamburger from 103 stores from 26 cities for bacterial contamination, comparing “sustainable” meat to conventional meat. (Sustainable, in this study, referred to beef from cattle that was not given antibiotics). What they found was both enlightening and truly disturbing.

Beef samples were tested for 5 types of bacteria:

• Salmonella
• Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
• Coli (7 strains)
• Clostridium perfringens (CDC estimates 1 million cases of food poisoning due to this bacteria each year.)
• Enterococcus

Consumer Reports published the following results:

All 458 pounds of beef we examined contained bacteria that signified fecal contamination (enterococcus and/or nontoxin-producing E. coli), which can cause blood or urinary tract infections. Almost 20 percent contained C. perfringens, a bacteria that causes almost 1 million cases of food poisoning annually. Ten percent of the samples had a strain of S. aureus bacteria that can produce a toxin that can make you sick. That toxin can’t be destroyed—even with proper cooking.

Just 1 percent of our samples contained salmonella. … salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses and 450 deaths in the U.S. each year.

Consumer Reports then tested the bacteria they found and discovered that 18 percent of conventional beef samples were contaminated with superbugs—dangerous bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics. While testing out to contain half that amount, 9%, sustainably produced beef also contained superbugs.

A full 97% of the beef sold is obtained from conventionally raised cattle that are crowded into feedlots and left to stand in their own manure. They are fed corn and soy (both of which are usually GMO), candy, slaughtered parts of pigs and chickens and dried chicken manure and litter rather than the grasses and other plants they were meant to eat. They are also fed plastic pellets for roughage and routine antibiotics.

Although sustainable beef is clearly better and cleaner, all of the samples, even organic beef samples, were contaminated. Consumer Reports strongly recommends cooking hamburger to an internal temperature of 160 degrees – medium, rather than rare or medium rare. Rare hamburger, it seems, is much more likely to cause disease than other cuts of beef due to the fact that it is ground up and the bacteria is inside as well as outside. With other cuts of beef, the bacteria would only be found on the surface, where it is more likely to be killed by the heat source. If you’ve been eating conventionally grown meat, consider a GMO detox.

Further Reading:

• The Way We Used To Eat – The Real Paleo Diet
• Food For Naught: 5 Reasons To Kick Factory Farmed Meats Off Your Plate 
• Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources:

• How Safe Is Your Ground Beef? – Consumer Reports