Delicious but deadly

I'm telling you man, I have an absolute iron stomach.

The same toxic chemicals also found in nonstick pans and shampoo are in New Orleans’ drinking water system at higher levels than previously thought, according to a report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released Wednesday.

The environmental nonprofit tested water in 44 areas in 31 states and D.C. and found that New Orleans’ water system had levels of chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), that reached 41.8 parts per trillion.

Since 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has had a health advisory for lifetime exposure to PFOS and PFOA — two types of PFAS — in drinking water set to 70 parts per trillion, but the limit is not enforceable.

The thing is, they say in there that some of the cleanest water in the country comes from Meridian, Mississippi and I have had the water in Meridian and can tell you it tastes like trash. Maybe the water here has a lot of actual trash in it but.. still....


Meanwhile, have you seen this? Have you heard about this?

The first state to enact any protections at all was Louisiana, in the late 1980s. “It was the only environmental issue in Louisiana anyone ever sprang on me I didn’t know anything about,” says chemical physicist Paul Templet, who as the state’s lead environmental regulator at the time ordered a study on oil-and-gas radioactivity. The results horrified him.

The levels of radium in Louisiana oil pipes had registered as much as 20,000 times the limits set by the EPA for topsoil at uranium-mill waste sites. Templet found that workers who were cleaning oil-field piping were being coated in radioactive dust and breathing it in. One man they tested had radioactivity all over his clothes, his car, his front steps, and even on his newborn baby. The industry was also spewing waste into coastal waterways, and radioactivity was shown to accumulate in oysters. Pipes still laden with radioactivity were donated by the industry and reused to build community playgrounds. Templet sent inspectors with Geiger counters across southern Louisiana. One witnessed a kid sitting on a fence made from piping so radioactive they were set to receive a full year’s radiation dose in an hour. “People thought getting these pipes for free from the oil industry was such a great deal,” says Templet, “but essentially the oil companies were just getting rid of their waste.”

So, you know, pipes. They've got bad stuff in them.