July 29, 2019
Andrew Campbell
The safety of bottled water has aroused concern among the following states in the US: Pennsylvania, New England, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire. In New England, over PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of synthetic chemicals which may cause cancers, thyroid or fertility problems.) were found in jugs of spring water, sold by Spring Hill Farm Dairy Inc. in Massachusetts. Its spokesperson Nancy Sterling declared her company would buy a new $100,000 filtration system on July 22 and then all PFAS could be filtered out.
New Hampshire planned to set new drinking water regulations and discovered the water of the state was contaminated with too much PFAS.
Residents’ health in the above states was affected because of the tainted bottled water.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency promised in February to regulate PFAS in drinking water, groundwater, air, and soil, the federal government was criticized for its slow progress.
The Food and Drug Administration should also be responsible for no bottled water testing or standards for PFAS. Scientists suggest to set restrictive standards for any drinking water and luckily some states have shown some results. Moreover, the FDA declared to test PFAS through sampling food.
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