Keep Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Drinking Water

Sign ORI's Clean Drinking Water Letter Provide your comments why government must mandate EPA to test for and screen at lest 100 drinking water contaminents including heavy metals and endocrine disruptors.

Background

Access to clean drinking water is paramount to human health. Unfortunately, we are being exposed to more and more chemicals in the water that can act as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Endocrine disrupters are naturally occurring or manmade substances that can interfere with the function of hormones in the body. They can turn on, shut off, or change the signals that hormones carry, which affects the normal functions of tissues and organs. EDCs have become ubiquitous in the environment due to things like arsenic in industrial pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics including water bottles, cosmetics and other personal care products. These chemicals build up (bioaccumulate) in the body’s fat cells, which can lead to many different health problems and diseases.

May 13, 2010, U.S. House members led by Reps. Ed. Markey and James Moran, addressed the burgeoning issue of chemical pollution in our drinking water. They have introduced a new drinking water funding bill, which will help ensure everyone has access to clean drinking water. The bill will reauthorize and increase funding to assist states, water systems, and disadvantaged communities afford the treatment technologies needed to meet new water quality standards. It will ensure sustainable management of water systems, strengthen the EPA’s ability to enforce drinking water standards, and reduce lead in water. Most importantly, the bill will include provisions requiring the EPA to begin screening and testing drinking water for at least 100 contaminants. This includes toxins including heavy metals and endocrine disruptors.

The bill will expand the EDSP focus beyond human health to also consider impacts on wildlife. If you care what chemicals are in water or what’s accumulating in your body, please take a moment to comment and sign ORI’s support letter.

Keep Chemicals Out of Our Drinking Water!

Tell Washington why we need broader endocrine disruptor test rules for our drinking water. 

Donate $5 or more to help deliver our messages to Washington!

Our Stolen Futures by Theo Colburn established that man-made chemicals can mimic our body’s endocrine cycle chemistry, disrupt fertility development in both sexes, cause deformities, and contribute to cancer. Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor chemical that leaches out of hard plastic water bottles. Scientists have discovered another contaminant from plastic. “It’s BPA’s fluorinated twin – on steroids.” Bisphenol AF (BPAF) appears to be even more potent than BPA in altering the effects of steroid hormones such as estrogen in humans.  While little is know about human exposures to BPAF, it has already been detected in women’s fat cells.

Tell Washington to support an expanded endocrine disrupter screening program!

Help With a Five Dollar Holler for Endocrine Disruptor-Free Drinking Water!

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