Toxic Chromium-6 in Your Tap Water?
You may remember the film Erin Brockovitch from a few years back. The movie was about a community in California where the drinking water was contaminated with chromium-6. The residents there suffered from multiple harmful side effects. Although it's hard to say for sure whether chromium caused those particular health problems, there's reason to be concerned about this substance. . .
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We already knew chromium-6 causes cancer when inhaled, but new research supports what the movie claimed: chromium-6 likely causes cancer when consumed through drinking water. Specifically, chromium poisoning has strong links to leukemia, intestinal cancer and mouth tumors, among other things.
If chromium-6 is toxic, you may be wondering why everyone tells you to take a chromium supplement. The short answer is that chromium-6 and the chromium in pills are totally different. The chromium in supplements is safe.
If chromium-6 is in your tap water, it's probably the result of various industrial processes like those that take place in pulp mills, steel mills, and metal-making factories. Unfortunately, it's very difficult and expensive to remove chromium-6 from drinking water once it has been contaminated.
After pressure from various environmental groups, the EPA recently announced it would start testing for chromium-6 in drinking water. This comes on the heels of reports from the National Toxicology Program that "clear evidence of carcinogenic activity" was seen in laboratory animals after exposure to drinking water.
California was the first state to set a statewide enforceable limit on chromium-6 in drinking water in the hopes of reducing cancer risk. The EPA has yet to set a national limit and to require water utilities to test for it.
It would be a good idea if the EPA moves fast on this issue, since some reports show at least 74 million Americans in 42 states drink chromium-contaminated water.
In the meantime, the best thing you can do is have your drinking water tested. You can either hire a lab to test your water (it'll cost you upwards of $100), or you might consider calling your local health department. Sometimes, they'll offer free or reduced-fee tests for local tap water.
Make sure your water is pure
If your tap water is unsafe, then it's essential you either invest in a water filtration system or buy bottled water. Tap water is rife with problems. Chromium isn't the only one and it may not be the worst one. We've written about this subject before (Issue #85 at www.cancerdefeated.com/newsletters.)
Remember, you're not the only one at risk. Kids, grandkids, pets … anybody who drinks your water could be facing some serious — yet preventable — health risks.
I wish I could tell you which home water systems are the best, but this is still an open question for me. We're researching it and I'll follow up in a future issue. It's a personal question for me as I want to get a filtering system for my house. (And, please, all you dealers out there: don't write me with your sales pitch. I pay no attention.)
Meanwhile, I'm relying on distilled bottled water for now. It's not a perfect solution, mainly because the plastic containers themselves contain some BPA, yet another carcinogen. But I think it's relatively safe, albeit inconvenient.
Whatever system you purchase, you should test the water AFTER it's in to make sure the bad stuff has been taken out.
Best regards,
Lee Euler,
Publisher
