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Water Pollution
EPA Criticized for Allegedly Failing to Track Water Pollution (August 2001): In a report released in August, the inspector general of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criticized the EPA for doing a poor job of policing known polluters and failing to monitor hundreds of thousands of major pollution sources such as large hog farms and sewers and roads. In all but six states, the EPA leaves it to the states to issue and enforce water-pollution permits, and the EPA provides money and guidance. The inspector general's report, however, called the EPA's system for tracking pollution permits and compliance "incomplete, inaccurate and obsolete." The report also found that, often, violators are fined very little, fines aren't collected, and that action isn't taken against a violator until a year or more after the violation (leading to repeat violations). Study: EPA's Allowable Levels of Arsenic in Drinking Water Can Cause Cancer (March 2001): Just days after the Environmental Protection Agency scrapped proposed tightened limits on levels of arsenic in drinking water, the National Research Council released a study saying that current levels of arsenic are enough to cause several types of cancer. (To find this information on the NRC's Web site, go to the National Research Council, click on the link for the National Academy Press, click on More Information, then click on the Press Release.)
If You're Ill or Pregnant, Take Care with Drinking Tap Water: The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water recommends that anyone with a weakened immune system -- from cancer treatment, other illnesses, an organ transplant or AIDS -- take extra care with drinking water. A parasite living in lakes and rivers called Cryptosporidium can find its way into tap and bottled water. For the ill, this parasite can pose serious problems. Ways to reduce risk: boil water rapidly for a minute and store it in clean containers; get a water filter with a pore size of "absolute one micron" (change the filter regularly); make sure any bottled water has been distilled, treated by reverse osmosis, or properly filtered. Additionally, two environmental groups are issuing warnings to pregnant women. The Environmental Working Group and Public Interest Research Groups warn that millions of Americans drink tap water contaminated with a level of chemical byproducts that's far greater than what research says is safe for pregnant women. When chlorine is added to drinking water to disinfect it -- and it comes into contact with organic matter -- it can form compounds that can cause illness. Pregnant women who drink water contaminated with such compounds can suffer miscarriages or birth defects, the groups say.
Toxic Fish: In January, 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised that pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children should all avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. These types of fish could contain sufficient mercury to cause harm. In the past, perch, bass, catfish, trout and walleye have been contaminated with toxic levels of PCBs, lead, cadmium and pesticides. And virulent bacterium and natural toxins can thrive in raw oysters, clams and mussels. If you're pregnant, you might want to avoid fish and raw shellfish. But the Environmental Working Group offers a startling suggestion that several other commonly sold fish should be avoided entirely if pregnant, and that you should eat still others on a limited basis only. This list includes tuna, halibut, sea bass, cod, pollock, and mahi mahi. See a 2002 CNN report on possible effects of too much tuna on developing fetuses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers guidance on which states have a mercury advisory on freshwater fish. And the Center for Science in the Public Interest says that raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico are contaminated with a bacterium that could kill anyone with a compromised immune system.
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