One more reason to avoid bottled water

 I've railed on the bottle water issue for more than a decade and the same things found in some bottled water years ago are the same as today. Here in the Ham we get water from the Quabbin Reservoir and I've not heard of this chemical in that water way.

From GBH: The problem isn't just at Whole Foods. Spring water from Spring Hill Farm Dairy in Haverhill, Massachusetts is sold across New England under a variety of brand names, including CVS’s Ice Canyon Spring Water, Stop & Shop’s Acadia Spring Water, Cumberland Farms Spring Water and Market Basket Spring Water — to name a few. None of these supermarket chains responded to requests for comment.
Spring water from this Haverhill company has been shown to have high levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, man-made chemicals that are used in everything from carpets to nonstick pans. PFAS chemicals became widely used about 60 years ago.
“They’re used in a lot of outdoor gear, in dental floss, in pizza boxes,” said Elsie Sunderland, a professor of engineering and public health at Harvard. “You name it, we can pretty much find PFAS in it.”
Manufacturers like PFAS because they are good at repelling water, grease and stains. And, as result, they’ve become so common that basically everyone has some level of exposure.
“We can find these compounds in 98 or 99 percent of Americans,” said Sunderland. “We can detect these compounds in polar bears in the Arctic.”
PFAS has been associated with health concerns, adversely impacting people’s immune systems, thyroids and metabolism.
“Diabetes, risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease,” said Sunderland, ticking off a long list. “There’s a whole suite of things that they’ve been linked to.”
The federal government has not set a legally enforceable limit for PFAS in drinking water. The U.S. Evironmental Protection Agency does have a health advisory level of 70 nanograms per liter (ng/L) for two PFAS compounds, but Sunderland said it’s not legally binding, and many see it as too lenient.
That’s where states are stepping in, especially in the Northeast.
Massachusetts is in the process of coming up with a PFAS drinking water standard. And last week, New Hampshire’s legislature officially approved new standards for their state’s tap water.







https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/07/23/state-officials-warn-infants-pregnant-and-breastfeeding-women-to-avoid-some-bottled-water-brands