Is BC's Drinking Water Containing Toxic Chemicals? UBC Professor Plans To Investigate

PFAS Experts (also known as Permanent Chemicals) at UBC Filed To find out how much toxic substances are lurking in BC's drinking water.

Exposure to chemicals widely used in rain gear and non-stick cookware has been linked to a range of health effects, including immunosuppression, cancer and cardiovascular disease. is shown. Her Rachel Scholes, assistant professor of civil engineering at UBC, said:

On Wednesday, she told Postmedia following a shocking European study showing that rainwater is not safe to drink globally due to persistent PFAS levels in the atmosphere.

A study by researchers from Stockholm University and ETH Zurichwas published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technologyand found that rainwater They claim it is not safe to drink in all regions. Due to her high amounts of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances), PFAS are ubiquitous in consumer products around the world - even in Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau. Canada no longer permits the use of her PFAS in personal care products, but it is still used in manufacturing.

Scholes has applied for funding, and she hopes to begin her study next year to test drinking water in BC. However, it has not yet been determined whether there are unsafe levels.

She said the Stockholm study highlights just how prevalent these chemicals are in the environment. One of the points is that these compounds are so widely distributed in the environment that they will almost certainly be found [in BC rainwater].”

Scholes recommends B.C. I can not do it. Residents who collect and drink rainwater because there is no data at all.

While the government is phasing out some of her PFASs, Scholes says, in many cases, one persists in the environment with another persistent chemical. replaced by matter.

"These compounds are so widely used that it is difficult to stop all use of these compounds," she said.

"Importantly, some of the most commonly used chemicals are beginning to be phased out, but are being replaced by other compounds that are likely to have similar effects. I think that is why many scientists are calling for all PFASs to be treated as one class of compounds and regulated together.”

First author of the study, Stockholm University. Ian Cousins, a professor at drinking water, said in a statement that guideline values ​​for PFAS in drinking water had "amazingly declined" over the past 20 years.

For example, the guideline value for drinking water for one well-known substance in the PFAS class, the carcinogenic perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is 37.5 million minutes in the United States. has decreased to 1 of , He said.

“Based on the latest U.S. guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, drinking rainwater everywhere is considered unsafe. Many people in the country expect rainwater to be safe to drink, and it supplies many sources of drinking water,” he said. PFAS are known to be high in the atmosphere, but the continued presence of PFAS in the atmosphere is also due to their properties and the natural processes that continuously cycle them from the surface to the atmosphere, the researchers said. rice field.

A team from Stockholm University conducted laboratory and field work on the atmospheric presence and transport of PFAS over a decade. They noted that despite attempts to phase out chemicals, levels of harmful PFASs in the atmosphere have not declined.

ticrawford@postmedia.com