The LA Times recently published a follow up to the announcement from the Environmental Working Group that over 20 major cities’ drinking water is polluted with hexavalent chromium (chromium-6).
This is the same chromium-6 that was the subject of the lawsuit at the center of that Julia Roberts flick, Erin Brokovich.
As a result, the EPA is suggesting drinking water be tested either bi-yearly or quarterly for chromium-6. This is great, right? Clearly, testing is a fab idea that no one will argue with… But here’s the rub – this suggestion isn’t binding. No one has to do it. And with budgets of major cities being slashed all over the country, will cities really follow up on this suggestion?
Chromium-6 is a known carcinogen that’s clearly linked to cancer – a contaminant that’s in water that children are drinking. In some cities, the drinking water’s concentration is 9 times the parts-per-million recommended as being safe for human consumption by California regulation.
Maybe you already guessed this, but your Brita or any other inexpensive carbon filter you might use (the kind you buy at Target) isn’t certified to remove chromium-6. So, what CAN you use to get rid of chromium-6?… NSF International, a not-for-profit world leader in standards development & product certification for public health and safety, reports that reverse osmosis, special distillation and special filtration technologies will help reduce the levels of chromium in drinking water. Check under “Drinking Water” in their Certified Products Database for info regarding which filtration products passed their tests.
Consumer product bandaides aside, we at THE CANCER SHOW think the EPA can, frankly, do better than just make a “suggestion” to test for chromium-6 in our cities’ water. Beyond actually mandating tests, we’d also like to see them take responsibility for seeing that this carcinogen is removed.
What do you think? Write to us and let us know.
