Exclusive: Experts ‘alarmed’ after potentially toxic chemicals detected in sources at 17 of England’s 18 water firms

Potentially toxic “forever chemicals” have been detected in the drinking water sources at 17 of 18 England’s water companies, with 11,853 samples testing positive, something experts say they are “extremely alarmed” by.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – a group of 10,000 or so human-made chemicals widely used in industrial processes, firefighting foams and consumer products – were found in samples of raw and treated water tested by water companies last year, according to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), the Guardian and Watershed Investigations has found.

    • @Akuchimoya@startrek.websiteEnglish
      2•10 months ago

      If you donate blood, you also remove the PFAS in that blood from your body too. Donating blood is an altruistic act (at least in Canada, you cannot be paid for it), but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a little side benefit. Blood letting is sometimes still a legitimate therapy for specific things.

        • @Akuchimoya@startrek.websiteEnglish
          1•10 months ago

          You’re right, its going into someone else. Someone else who’s probably going to die in a more immediate circumstance than PFAS poisoning.

        • @penguin_knight@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1•10 months ago

          blood you donate doesnt always go into someone else. I don’t know the stats for what fraction gets transplanted, but researchers also use blood for different reasons.

      • @rosymind@leminal.spaceEnglish
        3•10 months ago

        The problem is with how wide-spread it is, even if you get rid of it through blood donation you’re still going to pick it back up again by eating and drinking. There’s no escaping it; what we need is to stop using it, and figure out how to properly remove it from the environment.

        It’s tough, though, because many daily use items in every industry and household contains them.

        For now, the best we can do is avoid items made with them (to the best of our knowledge), filter all our water, avoid food sources known to contain high amounts of it, and spread the word

    • @TaintPuncher@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1•10 months ago

      Highly recommend watching Dark Water, as well as the documentary, “The Devil We Know”, which I believe is on Netflix, at least in the states.

      Since watching those, all my cookware is either stainless steel or cast iron and I don’t buy anything marketed as non-stick. Didn’t think a movie and documentary could get to me that much but here we are!