Millions of Americans swallow unhealthy doses of five widely used farm pesticides in their drinking water, says a study by an environmental group that wants stricter regulations.
The Environmental Working Group says more than 3.5 million people in 121 Midwestern towns and cities face an elevated risk of cancer as a result. In all, 14.1 million Americans routinely consume the weedkillers atrazine, cyanazine, alachlor, metolachlor and simazine, the study said Tuesday.The Environmental Working Group, a private, Washington-based organization concerned with environmentally sound farming practices, focused its study on the Corn Belt states because the pesticides they looked at are commonly used on corn and soybeans.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency said the report should be viewed with concern but not alarm. It agrees with the recommendations but denies that large numbers of people face a higher risk of cancer.
"Most drinking water systems in this country are well-regulated and by and large monitored frequently," EPA Administrator Carol Browner said in a statement. "But this study is another in a series of wake-up calls that tells us we can no longer take for granted that our drinking water is safe all the
time." Of the chemicals cited in the report, she said, "We've already undertaken efforts to reduce the use of these pesticides." Use of one, which she did not identify, has been reduced, and the EPA is conducting a special review of the others, she said Tuesday morning on ABC. "That may well lead to cancellation of the use of those pesticides," she said.
The administration tried unsuccessfully this year to renew the Safe Drinking Water Act and insert several provisions to attack pesticides in
water. For its study, the environmental group took the government's strictest risk standard for pesticides in food and applied it to water.
"We should have one standard, and it should be the one most protective of public health," said Richard Wiles, lead researcher and author of the study.
The group used 20,000 water test results from state and federal government sources. It was unclear how many samples were from treated and untreated
water. Of the cities, the individual cancer risk ranged from 10 in 1 million in Fort Wayne, Ind., to 48.5 in a million in Springfield, Ill. In small towns the risk ranged from 10 in a million in Sorento, Ill., to 116 in a million in White Hall, Ill.