[NR] don't drink the water ? namron listed

Sweet, Debby deborah.s.sweet at okstate.edu
Tue Dec 21 08:53:26 PST 2010


>> Hooray!  We're tied for the lead!  (We have more Chromium-6 than you,
>> do.  Nyah nyah nyah nyah, nyah.)

>yep, it is odd that tulsa and okc weren't on the naughty list this time ; )
>but i guess we can't always make the top of the list ; )

After reading the article the only city in Oklahoma that was tested was Norman. And it wasn't tied for the lead. It was waaaay out in front with like 12.9 ppb of chromium-6 and the next closest was Honolulu, Hawaii with 2.00 ppb. Which are both way above the proposed California proposed limits of  0.06 parts per billion (ppb).

>From the study: "Levels of the carcinogen in 25 cities tested by EWG were higher than California's proposed public health goal. Tap water from Norman, Okla. (population 90,000) contained more than 200 times California's proposed safe limit."

Next find the map. It shows in addition to the cities tested shown with red dots counties are variously brown-shaded representing population-adjusted average concentrations of total chromium, calculated from EWG's national tap water database. ALL the counties next to Norman's big red dot are various shades of brown so I don't think anyone in the OKC metroplex should consider themselves safe, especially if they are medically impaired ("people with less acidic stomachs"), have children, or are trying to have children (populations of concern listed in the article). Osage county is also the first shading of brown, but no other counties over near Tulsa are colored. Because of the size of the dot & the numbers right above it, I cannot tell whether Payne county is shaded or not. And counties leading down towards Lawton are also shaded.

"Chronic exposure to hexavalent chromium in tap water is likely to raise everyone's risk of cancer, but the young and the medically impaired may be especially vulnerable."

And my absolutely favorite quote from the article:
"A growing number of studies also show that the risks add up when people are exposed to multiple chemicals that can act in tandem to cause harm - and that total risk can be greater than the sum of the parts (NRC 2008)."

Estrill



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