Study finds chemicals in drinking water in 43 states

Study Finds Chemicals in Drinking Water - PFAS Contamination in Drinking Water

David Andrews, Senior Scientist, Environmental Working Group

CBS News Report

Chemicals that are potentially harmful to your health were found in drinking water in 43 states, according to a new study by the Environmental Working Group. David Andrews, a senior scientist with EWG, joins CBSN to discuss what people should know.

Video Transcript:

0:00
a new study reveals a chemical that can

0:07
be harmful to your health is found in

0:10
water in 43 states the Environmental

0:13
Working Group says PSAs which are

0:16
chemicals used in consumer products like

0:18
firefighting foam and nonstick cookware

0:20
can be found in 610 locations across the

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country and that includes drinking water

0:25
for about 19 million people for more on

0:27
this now we’re doing joined rather by

0:29
David Andrews a senior scientist for the

0:31
Environmental Working Group so I read

0:34
sort of the article on this report and

0:37
it is scary because we’re talking about

0:39
a problem basically across the country

0:41
David how significant are the results of

0:43
this study well this is this should be

0:46
frightening to all Americans in many

0:48
ways because these chemicals these are

0:50
the Teflon or Scotch coated chemicals as

0:52
you mentioned they’re common in

0:53
firefighting foam they’re their stain

0:56
repellent but they don’t break down in

0:57
the body and they don’t break down in

0:59
the environment and they actually stick

1:01
to our blood so levels tend to increase

1:03
over time so then are we seeing levels

1:08
within our bodies are we finding

1:10
children with this stuff in them and how

1:12
could it potentially affect our health

1:14
how is it affecting our health right

1:15
these chemicals are actually found in

1:18
everyone in dissent in the United States

1:20
just about everyone in the entire world

1:22
and and exposure to these chemicals

1:24
really can connect a lot of different

1:27
health systems cause numerous health

1:29
harms everything from testicular to

1:31
kidney cancer harm to the liver harm to

1:34
the thyroid it actually impacts

1:38
childhood development low birth weight

1:40
and it actually can impact the immune

1:42
system and reduce the effectiveness of

1:45
vaccines so it’s really actually

1:46
frightening how many different health

1:49
systems different organs these chemicals

1:52
can cause harm to is this the sort of

1:55
thing that can be filtered out with a

1:56
Brita filter I know my refrigerator sort

1:59
of the water part of it comes with a

2:01
filter does that do these filters make

2:03
any sort of difference yeah that’s a

2:06
great question is actually a Brita type

2:07
filter will help a little bit so there’s

2:10
some hope there

2:11
if there is no contamination where you

2:13
are you may want to look into a more

2:16
comprehensive filter a reverse osmosis

2:18
filter but a carbon filter a Brita

2:20
filter that will actually help and will

2:22
reduce the levels typically so then

2:26
according to your report Michigan has

2:28
the most locations and you guys have

2:30
this great sort of interactive map where

2:32
you can check out your own state and see

2:34
the locations of concern and whether

2:36
we’re talking about a military base for

2:38
drinking water but Michigan has a

2:39
hundred ninety two locations in just

2:42
that one state is this because they have

2:44
more efforts to Tess is that they’re

2:46
testing these PFA is more there and so

2:49
they’re identifying the problem or is it

2:51
that they really do have more of a

2:53
problem than anywhere else this is so in

2:56
large part it’s because they’re

2:57
identifying the problem they’re really

2:59
getting ahead of other states and trying

3:01
to understand the scope and the

3:03
magnitude of this contamination and what

3:06
they found is that it’s much bigger than

3:07
they even expected and I think that’s a

3:09
result we’re gonna see across the

3:11
country as more states do additional

3:14
testing and so we’re actually supporting

3:16
a lot of legislation at state and

3:18
federal level to really understand the

3:21
scope of this problem and set legal

3:23
limits in drinking water we think

3:24
everyone has a right to safe and clean

3:26
drinking water that’s what I want to ask

3:28
you about I’m sure there’s no like

3:30
minimum level of like a safe number PFA

3:33
saying your drinking water but what’s

3:35
the FDA doing I mean are they keeping

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