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.

Police in Portland have been using tear gas on protestors since May, and officials are worried about the effect of the gas on the health of the protestors and the water in the area, especially the Willamette River. Since July 24th, the state has received 160 complaints about tear gas, in addition to comments on social media.

While aren’t many studies on the long-term effects of tear gas exposure, which authorities have sprayed over protestors since George Floyd’s death on May 25th, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that prolonged exposure to riot control agents like CS gas can cause eye problems like scarring, glaucoma, and cataracts, and may possibly cause breathing problems such as asthma. A small sample of protestors has reported that frequent exposure to tear gas has altered their menstrual cycles. The Oregon Health & Science University released a statement on tear gas and COVID-19.

Recommended: How To Heal Your Gut

While large gatherings in general provide increased opportunities for the transmission of COVID-19, the use of tear gas could significantly exacerbate the spread. Tear gas is a chemical that attacks the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs and causes severe pain and irritation; exposure to tear gas can result in blindness, bleeding, crying and coughing. The release of airborne droplets through tear gas-induced coughing could accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and lead to a surge in new cases. Damage to the respiratory tract can put individuals at greater risk of adverse outcomes if they become infected with COVID-19.”

Danny Jacobs, President of OHSU

In addition to human health, environmental regulators are also concerned about the nightly applications of tear gas. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has asked the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services to respond to that.

Due to the unprecedented amount of tear gas products used within the downtown area over the last 90 days, DEQ is requiring the City to conduct additional water quality monitoring…” 

Christine Svetkovich, DEQ Water Quality Manager

The DEQ has also asked the city to report on the collections of lead, copper, barium, zinc, perchlorate, total chromium, and hexavalent chromium in the water supply.

Glyphosate isn’t the only harmful herbicide in the water supply. An investigation from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that atrazine, a Syngenta product used on corn, sugarcane, and lawns, is in the tap water of over 30 million people in the U.S. 76 millions pounds of atrazine were sprayed in 2014, making it the second most commonly used herbicide (after glyphosate) in the United States. Several studies have identified the chemical as an endocrine disruptor, and it has also been linked to cancer and birth defects. The new EWG study is only a snapshot of how hard it is to avoid atrazine.

EWG’s Tap Water Database, which aggregates water testing data from utilities nationwide, shows that nearly 30 million Americans in 28 states have some level of atrazine in their tap water. Environmental Protection Agency data for 2017 show late-spring and early-summer spikes of atrazine in drinking water commonly are three to seven times higher than the federal legal limit, but these exceedances are not reported to people in the affected communities…”

Related: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

Previous Litigation and Discovery

Syngenta is aware of the problems with atrazine and water contamination. In 2012, Syngenta was sued by 23 cities and towns in the Midwest. These municipalities alleged that Syngenta knew about but didn’t inform their communities about atrazine and its potential for groundwater contamination. Syngenta settled that class-action suit for 105 million dollars, enough to properly filter the atrazine from the towns water sources. The company did not admit any fault and maintains that atrazine is safe.

Related: Why Romaine Lettuce and Spinach Keep Trying To Kill Us, and What We Can Do About It

Even if that is the case, many areas where the herbicide is used (the most commonly treated crop is corn) are still drinking far more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended maximum amount of 3.4 parts per billion of atrazine in surface water. Atrazine doesn’t break down readily in water. According to the chemical’s toxicological profile issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,

Atrazine tends to persist in surface and groundwater, with a moderate tendency to bind to sediments. Slow or no biodegradation occurs in surface water or groundwater environments, respectively…Depending on the availability of sunlight, oxygen, microorganisms, and plants, the half-life of atrazine in water tends to be longer than 6 months; in some cases, no degradation of atrazine has been observed in aquatic systems.”

There are some serious issues linked to atrazine and many questions surround its health and environmental implications.

Municipalities in states like Nebraska and Wisconsin shut down wells during peak atrazine season, typically in the spring. Multiple studies have linked it to disrupted growth, behavior, immune function, and gonadal development in fish and amphibians. A study from the University of Kentucky found a high likelihood of a connection between atrazine exposure and premature births. The Centers for Disease Control lists congestion of heart, lungs, and kidneys, low blood pressure, muscle spasms, weight loss, and damage to adrenal glands as potential side effects of atrazine exposure above the maximum contaminant level for short periods of time. Use of the herbicide was banned in the European Union in 2004.

Related: What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?

Atrazine Needs to Be Examined

Atrazine, while effective at killing, weeds, has not been definitively proven to be safe for the environment or public health. Syngenta has thrown millions at the EPA and succeeded in having it declared otherwise. Yet the company was unable to prove the same thing to the European Union in 2004.

This news makes me sad for the farmers. To make a profit on the nutritionally-deficient crops they grow, they spray them in large quantities of harmful chemicals that then leach into their water supply. Make a living to live what kind of life?

Sources:

• A Hormone-Disrupting Weed Killer May Be In Your Tap Water. Here’s What to Do About It – Environmental Working Group
• A Valuable Reputation – The New Yorker
• Atrazine – Living History Farm
• ‘Strict’ pesticide rules fail to erase threat to Wisconsin’s drinking water – Channel 3000
• Atrazine Exposure in Public Drinking Water and Preterm Birth – NCBI
• Potential for Human Exposure – ATSDR
• Community Water – CDC.gov

The biannual Puget Sound mussel monitoring study found that three of eighteen samples of native bay mussels contained trace amounts of oxycodone, the chemotherapy drug Melphalan, and antidepressants. Scientists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) transplant uncontaminated mussels to various locations in the Seattle and Bremerton harbors and check them two to three months later. It is not unusual for pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs like cocaine to be found during these surveys, but this is the first time scientists have found opioids. Jennifer Lanksbury is a biologist at the WDWW.

What we eat and what we excrete goes into the Puget Sound…It’s telling me there’s a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area.”

Related: How Farmed Fish Degrades Our Health and the Environment – Better Options Included

How Do They Get There?

Opioid use in the U.S. has spiraled out of control, with deaths from pharmaceutical versions, heroin, and fentanyl nearly tripling since 2002. Finding evidence of that crisis in our waterways is a when, not an if. But how does that happen?

Recommended: Microplastics In Tap Water and Beer Around the Great Lakes, and Everywhere Else

The biggest culprits are wastewater plants discharging into the bay. Opioids enter the waste stream through human excrement and improperly disposed of pharmaceuticals (flushing them). An earlier study in the Great Lakes found that wastewater treatment facilities were only able to remove half of the prescription drugs that enter the plant. A quarter of chemicals had low removal rates, where there was less than 25 percent chance of removing 75 percent or more of the drug. Runoff from agricultural sources is also a contributor to the presence of harmful chemicals in aquatic environments.

What Do the Fish Think?

The bay mussels are not likely to metabolize these opioids, especially in the trace amounts found, but what about other fish? Zebrafish, although not a resident of the Puget Sound, learn how to dose themselves with opioids, and scientists surmise that salmon and other native species will have similar reactions. The effects of these drugs on the aquatic population will likely be more clear as the opioid crisis continues to gain momentum.

Recommended: Why Is Candida So Hard to Kill?

The opioids were found in trace amounts, but the chemotherapy drug Melphalan was found in doses that correspond to a recommended dose in humans. This drug interacts with DNA and is a carcinogen. The National Institutes of Health notes that

…There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of melphalan from studies in experimental animals. When administered by intraperitoneal injection, melphalan caused cancer of lymphatic tissue (lymphosarcoma) in male mice, lung tumors in mice of both sexes, and cancer of the abdominal cavity (sarcoma of the peritoneum) in rats of both sexes…”

Water At Risk

Water is our most precious resource, and we have not been good stewards of it. The ecosystem that keeps our bodies of water and our very planet healthy is constantly being changed and manipulated without a way to correct for the changes. This is the first evidence of opioids in the water, but other drugs have become commonplace as we see with the Melphalan. There are no procedures in place to keep the same thing from happening with opioids.

Sources:

• Bay Mussels in Puget Sound Show Traces of Oxycodone – Puget Sound Institute
• Mussels off the coast of Seattle test positive for opioids – CBS News
• Overdose Death Rates – National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Melphalan – National Institutes of Health Report on Carcinogen 
• Only Half of Drugs Removed by Sewage Treatment – Scientific American

A new report, titled Compendium of Scientific, Medical and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking is the most authoritative study that’s ever been done on fracking and how it is contaminating the air and water – and imperiling the health of millions of us.

Our examination of the peer-reviewed medical and public health literature uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health.”

This report looked at news investigations, government assessments, and more than a thousand peer-reviewed research articles. The study shows that fracking is poisoning our air, contaminating the groundwater, and putting our health of at risk.

Recommended: Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Just How Bad is fracking? Why?

Dr. Sandra Steingraber is a biologist and one of the co-authors. She’s been a public health advocate on issues like breast cancer and toxic incinerators. She says that “Fracking is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

Those of us in the public health sector started to realize years ago that there were potential risks, then the industry rolled out faster than we could do our science. Now we see those risks have turned into human harms and people are getting sick. And we in this field have a moral imperative to raise the alarm.” –Dr. Steingraber, Rolling Stone

Fracking is a complicated extraction process with public health hazards at virtually every part of the process. If you want to read it, click here to read the report, and then click the download button to view the PDF.

Recommended: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Residents living near an active fracking site breathe in carcinogens like benzene and formaldehyde. THis leads to an increased risk of asthma and leads to developmental disorders and problems with pregnancies.

Pregnant women have a major risk, not only themselves but they’re carrying a fetus whose cells are multiplying continuously. If those cells get hit by some toxic chemical from fracking, it may not manifest itself for years.” – Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, president-elect of Physicians for Social Responsibility

Fracking sites have caught fire some have even exploded, as happened last month in Belmont County, Ohio. Communities have shown that fracking contaminates underground aquifers with hazardous chemicals. Fracked gas travels through pipelines, and leaks and explosions are now well-documented. Piped gas has to continuously be re-pressurized at compressor stations, and those stations have been documented to emit toxic gases and fine particle matter like methane, benzene, formaldehyde and other known human carcinogens. 

Dr. Kathleen Nolan is a co-author of the report. She’s a pediatrician and bioethicist. Dr. Nolan has examined people who have been sickened by fracking. She describes a case of one western Pennsylvania family:

They would see a yellow fog, kind of like a chemical mist coming from the compressor station. Their two youngest children, nine and 11, started having tics where their muscles would go into spasms, those spasms would persist even when they were asleep.”

Recommended: Heal Cavities, Gum Disease, Naturally with Organic Oral Care – Toothpaste recipes included

Of course, Scott Pruit, our head of the EPA who’s always wanting to be on the wrong side of history, is a big fan of Fracking.

For more on the dangers of fracking:

We’ve always been told fish is a nutritious choice, a good source of lean protein and healthy fats. But is it still a good choice today? Whether we choose cooked fish or sushi in a restaurant, we buy our fish at the market, or we hook a worm and catch our own, it may not be healthy or safe to eat. And if we bought it, we may be a victim of seafood fraud.

Fishy Bait and Switch Schemes

Seafood fraud is serious business. Oceana has found that, on average, 1 in 5 samples of seafood is mislabeled at every sector of the supply chain. In other words, there is a 1 in 5 chance that the fish you buy at a restaurant or market may not be what you thought you were buying. Chances are, it may not be what they thought they were buying, either.

Oceana reports, “Asian catfish, hake, and escolar were the three types of fish most commonly substituted. Specifically, farmed Asian catfish was sold as 18 different types of higher-value fish.”

This isn’t just a scam that affects your pocketbook; it may affect your health. “More than half (58 percent) of the samples substituted for other seafood posed a species-specific health risk to consumers, meaning that consumers could be eating fish that could make them sick.”

In April 2017, George Washington University published their findings from testing the fish from 6 popular Washington D.C. restaurants. They discovered 1 in 3 samples were not what they claimed to be.

Fish substitution is not only a racket to sell a lower priced fish at a higher price, it is also a means to sell illegally caught endangered fish.

Related: 5 Tons of GM Fish Sold for Human Consumption (And only the producer knows where they are)

Radioactive Fish

Yes, you can find articles claiming that we are being poisoned by radioactive fish, but the sources are… questionable. But then again, can we trust the FDA when they say we are not in danger? The following is a response to a direct inquiry.

“To date, FDA has no evidence that radionuclides are present in the U.S. food supply at levels that would pose a public health concern. This is true for both FDA-regulated food products imported from Japan and U.S. domestic food products, including seafood caught off the coast of the United States. Consequently, FDA is not advising consumers to alter their consumption of specific foods imported from Japan or domestically produced foods, including seafood. FDA continues to closely monitor the situation at and around the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility, as it has since the start of the incident and will coordinate with other Federal and state agencies as necessary, standing ready to take action if needed, to ensure the safety of food in the U.S. marketplace.”

So we are eating radioactive fish, but the contamination is at such a low level we don’t need to worry? Ah, okay…

Old McDonald Had a Farm…

Think of everything you’ve ever read or seen about the horrors of factory farming with pigs, chickens, and cows and imagine it’s worse for fish – much worse. Half of the fish consumed today are raised in aquafarms under horrific conditions of extreme overcrowding and filth. Some fish are genetically modified to accelerate growth. Hormones are injected to change reproduction. Antibiotics are added to the water in some countries. Fish that normally eat plants are fed fish and fish oils.

There is a high mortality rate among farm-raised fish. A high percentage of the fish are deaf or blind. Parasitic infestations are common. PETA reports, “Sea lice, for example, eat at the fish, causing their scales to fall off and creating large sores. In severely crowded conditions, these parasites often eat down to the bone on fish’s faces, resulting in what is sometimes called a “death crown.”

So, we are not only looking at genetic modification, disease, hormones, antibiotics, filth, starvation, genetically modified feed, and inhumane treatment, we also color fish. Salmon have artificial coloring added to their feed that changes the color of their flesh. Farm raised salmon are not naturally pink. They are gray. Chemicals are added to their feed to cause their flesh to turn pink. So we are also ingesting those chemicals when we eat farm-raised salmon. Bon appétit!

Related: Genetically Modified Salmon Is On Its Way To Your Store

The Mercurial Rise and More

The level of mercury in fish remains a serious health concern. We are warned to avoid certain fish. Scientific American lists the following as carrying “proportionately large mercury burden.”

• bluefin tuna
• walleye
• king mackerel
• marlin
• bluefish
• shark
• swordfish
• wild sturgeon
• opah
• bigeye tuna

Other fish that are “Also of concern, but to a slightly lesser extent” are:

• orange roughy
• Chilean sea bass
• blue crab
• lingcod
• Spanish mackerel
• spotted seatrout
• wahoo
• grouper
• snapper
• halibut
• tile fish
• rock fish
• sable fish
• blackfin, albacore, and yellowfin tuna.

Top level predators in the fish world accumulate mercury due to longevity and a constant diet of smaller, mercury laden fish. Concentrations in fish can be 1-10 million times higher than the mercury concentration in the water.

The Environmental Defense Fund tells us, “The problem of mercury-contaminated fish is widespread. According to the EPA’s National Listing of Fish Advisories:

• Mercury advisories increased 95% between 2003 and 2010 (from 2,362 to 4,598). This is largely due to greater monitoring, not necessarily greater pollution.
• All 50 states currently issue mercury advisories.
• As of 2010, almost 18 million lake acres and approximately 1.4 million river miles were covered by some type of consumption advisory.
• Currently, 28 states have statewide mercury advisories in freshwater lakes or rivers, and 19 states have statewide advisories for mercury in their coastal waters.”

Related: Top 5 Foods that Detox Heavy Metals and Toxins – With Protocol

The EPA says, “The 2011 total of 4,821 advisories covers 42% of the Nation’s total lake acreage and 36% of the nation’s total river miles.” But the EPA tells us mercury is not the only contaminant causing concern. “Ninety–four percent of all advisories in effect in 2011 involved five bioaccumulative chemical contaminants: mercury, PCBs, chlordane, dioxins, and DDT.” Remember these facts are 6 years old. How much worse is it now?

What Fish Should We Eat?

If you choose to eat fish, which fish should you choose? Clearly, this should be a simple question with an agreed upon list – but it isn’t. If you search through article after article on the Internet, zeroing in on trusted sources, you will still find widely varying lists. Although it is common knowledge that tuna is high in mercury, you will find tuna on many of these lists along with shellfish (the scavengers of the sea), and varieties of farm raised fish.

The most agreed upon healthy choices are:

• Alaskan salmon (wild caught)
• Cod
• Mackerel (though Spanish Mackerel is on the “also of concern” list)
• Sardines
• Herring

We advise taking the time to research. Fish is not the same from one store to another. Look into the sustainability and health issues with each source.

Also: Seafood & Mercury – What’s Safe To Eat & What’s Not

Pollution is the Key

We can hook that worm or cast the perfect fly to catch a fish from a crystal clear lake or flowing stream. But we’d better check the local advisories before we eat it. There’s a good chance we’ll be advised to limit how much we eat or to avoid feeding our catch to pregnant women, small children, or the elderly.

It’s a no brainer. If we continue to pollute the water, we continue to pollute the fish. Although you’d never know it based on our current behavior, our oceans are not a dumping ground. If we continue to burn fossil fuels, we will continue to pump mercury into the air. Mercury will fall to the ground to contaminate the earth and our water. If we continue to use toxic chemicals that run off into our waterways, they will come back to us full circle through our food chain.

We have choices to make. Let’s make the right ones. For now? Be careful of the fish you choose to eat.

Recommended Reading:

• Still, Have Candida? How Mercury Fillings Cause Candida Overgrowth
• Wild Caught? Maybe Not – Salmon Sold to You May Have Been Farm-Raised
• How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Sources:

• Deceptive Dishes: Seafood Swaps Found Worldwide – Oceana
• Why the Fish You Order Isn’t Always What You Get – Time
• The Lingering Effects of Fukushima on Fish – Time
• Aquafarming- PETA
• Here’s why your farmed salmon has color added to it – Quartz
• Mercury in seafood – Environmental Defense Fund
• National Listing of Fish Advisories General Fact Sheet 2011 – EPA

When it comes to long-term thinking for the health of the planet, humans often fall short of common sense. Plastic, one of the most durable products in the world, is consistently used for products no one actually wants to last forever, like single-use grocery bags and cheap children’s toys. The ever-increasing amounts of plastics glutting the planet today are leading to dire consequences for many natural spaces, especially the ocean. Worst of all, the overabundance of plastic particles is starting to make it into our diet in the unlikeliest of ways- sea salt.

Related: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

The Rise of Plastic in the Ocean

Every year, roughly 13 million metric tons of plastic finds its way into the ocean. A study from 2014 found that there are more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean, and over 90 percent of them are less than a quarter inch long. Called microplastics, these tiny pieces tend to pose the biggest threat because they are often eaten by plankton and other small creatures and quickly make their way through the food chain to larger fish, birds, and other species.

Previous research on the levels of microplastics in the ocean has revealed that the quantities are unexpectedly high in seafood like fish and clams. However, recent research has discovered that microplastics are also detectable in sea salt.

Contamination in Sea Salt

A survey of 16 brands of sea salt from eight countries revealed to researchers that microplastics were present in all but one brand. Published in Scientific Reports, this research team found trace amounts of the plastic polymers polypropylene and polyethylene. In all, the research revealed that the tested salt contained about 1,200 plastic particles per pound. Most of these particles were found to be fragments of old plastic products, fibers, and paints that were broken down to their small size in the ocean, which ruled out the possibility that the sea salt packaging itself was to blame.

The Impacts for Human Health

In general, sea salt is considered a healthier alternative to regular table salt. Found to strengthen the immune system, improve heart health, and decrease the symptoms of asthma, many people believe that using sea salt is better for their bodies than other, refined varieties of salt. However, the prevalence of plastic in many sea salt brands might be a reason to be concerned.

Microplastics are a threat to organisms because their small size makes it easy for them to absorb organic pollutants and store them in the bodies of those that eat them. Yet there’s little reason for you to worry about the negative health effects of plastic- tainted sea salt, as the amounts of microplastics found in salt are so low that they are not considered a health risk. Researchers estimate that most people swallow fewer than 40 particles of plastic in sea salt every year, compared to the estimated 11,000 particles that shellfish lovers likely consume each year. Somewhat reassuringly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies polypropylene and polyethylene- based plastic polymers as safe for human consumption at these levels.

The Overall Damage for the Environment

In many ways, the danger of microplastics in sea salt doesn’t come from the risk for your body, but from what they mean for the rest of the planet. Plastic has become so prevalent in the world today that it’s hard to find places without it. From the ocean floor to the ice in Antarctica, microplastics are increasingly polluting natural spaces, and their long-term impacts on the world are still far from understood. If plastic particles can wind up in your salt shaker, there’s no telling where else it will soon be found.

Related Reading:

• Microbeads – They’re In Face Wash, Body Scrubs, Toothpaste, and Our Food
• The Toxic Toothpaste Ingredients That You Need To Avoid For Good Oral Health
• Still Have Candida? How Mercury Fillings Cause Candida Overgrowth
• Diatomaceous Earth – Mother Nature’s Secret Weapon: What Is It, How to Use It, Where to Find It

Sources:

• Sullied Seasoning: Sea Salts Come With a Dash of Microplastics – Arstechnica
• Most Sea Salt Contains Microplastics, Study Finds – Treehugger
• Are Microplastics in Your Sea Salt? – The Alternative Daily
• The Presence of Microplastics in Commercial Salts from Different Countries – Nature.com
• Even Your Sea Salt Contains Microplastics – Ecowatch
• Even Your Sea Salt is Almost Certainly Contaminated with Plastic – Quartz