As of March 26, we're $27,100 in the red for the quarter. Donate here to support this vital work
Subscribe here and join over 13,000 subscribers to our free weekly newsletter

Chromium-6: 'Erin Brockovich' chemical threatens two-thirds of Americans
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)


The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers), September 20, 2016
Posted: September 25th, 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/20/chromiu...

In the 2000 biographical film about a legal clerk who brings a major utility company to its knees for poisoning residents of Hinkley, California, Erin Brockovich ended on a Hollywood high note with a $333m settlement from PG&E. But chromium-6 contamination of Americas drinking water is an ongoing battle the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is losing. Nearly 200 million Americans across all 50 states are exposed to unsafe levels of chromium-6 or hexavalent chromium, a heavy metal known to cause cancer in animals and humans, according to a new report released Tuesday by the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Environmental Working Group (EWG). In their analysis of the EPAs own data collected for the first nationwide test of chromium-6 contamination in US drinking water, the [EWG] found that 12,000 Americans are at risk of getting cancer. More than two-thirds of Americans drinking water supply has more chromium than the level that California scientists say is safe a number thats been confirmed by scientists in both New Jersey and North Carolina, according to [report co-author Bill] Walker. Despite this widespread contamination, the US currently has no national drinking water standard for chromium-6. Erin Brockovich urges Americans to disregard the EPAs reassurances and to take a more active role in their communities to fix the countrys broken water supply.

Note: US authorities were recently caught systematically distorting water tests to downplay the pollution levels in the US water supply. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health news articles from reliable major media sources.


Latest News


Key News Articles from Years Past