Summary:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented a national plan to require water utilities to test the quality of drinking water for 28 contaminants. The EPA has declared that this is a major leap forward in the government’s efforts to recognize and control pollution from perfluorochemicals (PFCs), artificial developed chemicals that has been used in many stain-repellent coverings, non-stick cookware and water and grease-resistant coatings. Perfluorochemicals pollute drinking water and source water in at least 11 states and could be a serious threat to public health. The EPA’s water testing will help get rid of difficult environmental problems that our country encounters. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found PFCs in the bodies of nearly all Americans over 12 years of age. The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) tests of blood sample from 10 infants born in the
Relfection:
Testing for 28 contaminants is a lot to be testing now, this should have happened a long time ago, especially with perfluorochemicals being in common everyday items. You would think that non-stick cookware and water and grease-resistant coatings would be harmless for food and safe to consume since these materials touch your food as you cook. Things that are developed today should be tested for contaminants. There needs to be a more productive and quicker process to get results. If they can put a man one the moon, testing for toxins should be no problem.
Questions:
1) Do you think this problem will ever go away? Why or why not?
2) How do you think we can prevent contaminants from getting us sick?
3) What are 3 states you think already have perfluorochemicals and why?
I am glad that the EPA has step it up to do testing for 28 contaminants but it's not enough. Thier are hundreds of contaminants and they only test for 28 of them, so they could do alot better. If people are becoming sick from PFCs then company shouldn't be allowed to use them and people shouldn't buy them. I know we have non-stick cookware and luckly no one in my family is sick.
ReplyDeleteI think this problem is going to go away because if people start mto get sick then i think company will stop using PFCs or be forced to stop using them.
I'm surprised that the EPA is just up 28 contaminants. They should have been testing 28 contaminants a long time ago and should be testing more now. I certaintly do not want to hear that almost all Americans over 12 have PFCs inside them. If it is a serious health threat in 11 states then why was it not tested before? It is also shocking to me that materials like stain repellent coverings and non stick cookware should not have PFCs since they are items that we use on a daily basis. My family just bought new non stick cookware and I'm not sure now if we should be baking on them since there could be PFCs. I will probably check another website to see what those 11 states are and look to see if it could be a serious health threat.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the second one of Colby's questions I believe we could prevent contaminants from getting us sick by just having the EPA test for more contanimants in the water. Especially the ones that could harm us most. The EPA should already be trying to check a lot of the contaminats and the most dangerous. If they tried that then we shouldn't be getting as sick from the water as we are now.
Only 28 contaminates? I would think that the EPA would be testing more by this time. The number 28 might seem like a large number in some cases, but in the case it is a small number compared to the amount of contaminates that could possibly be in the water I drink everyday. Like people stated above they had non-stick cookware that they are now afraid to use. I also agree with them because my family uses non-stick pans as well. Overall, I think the EPA should be testing for more PFCs that the 28 that they are previously testing now.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Colbys first question:
I think that this problem will never go away. Contaminates will always be on our utility and frankly, they will never go away. What might change is the amount of PFCs the EPA tests for. Hopefully that number will go up.
I don't understand why these contaminates were not ring tested for in the first place. This should have never become such a big problem; the regulation should have been put in place before the contamination became such a big problem. I agree with colby that it's odd that the chemicals are such a health hazard even though we use them in cooking. There has to be other sources that this contamination is coming from and the government is just not telling us.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your first question, I definitely think this problem will be solved. If this is a hazard to public health, the EPA and the government have no choice to fix it. They are obviously capable of fixing it and I think they will find a way to do so.