Environmental Toxins and Health:
Our choices of how we use chemicals profoundly affect the health and well-being of our people, our economy, and our society. Many of our current chronic illnesses, particularly neurodevelopmental brain diseases such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders, and endocrine disorders such as thyroid disease and reproductive system disorders, are caused or exacerbated by environmental toxin exposures. There are approximately 80,000 chemicals on the market today, the majority of them with no health safety data. Many of them carry well-known negative effects on our health but remain pervasive in our environment due to lack of regulation and to the prioritizing of chemical industry profits over human health and quality of life. We desperately need fewer chemicals in our water, our air, our food, and our household products.
Our clients include law firms and organizations advocating to clean up and regulate environmental toxins. Please contact us at (828) 768-8866 to discuss how we can be of help to your practice. If you are specifically interested in perfluoroalkyl substances (perfluorochemicals), click here.
Water:
You, M.D. works with local governments, water utilities, and businesses who have an interest in supplying, promoting, or selling pure water.
Tap water is easy and accessible, but is more and more frequently contaminated with industrial toxins such as PFAS, lead, pesticides, arsenic, fluoride, and a multitude of pharmaceuticals. These chemicals and drugs get into tap water in a variety of ways. Industries dispose of their PFAS or other toxin-laden manufacturing waste water into rivers or it seeps into surrounding groundwater from industry landfills. River and groundwater is often the drinking water source of public water works facilities. While these facilities treat the river or reservoir water to make it drinkable, current systems are not designed to remove PFAS, pharmaceuticals, or pesticides. Data from EPA and EWG PFAS testing of drinking water shows that over 200 million Americans are drinking water contaminated by PFAS. People in these areas have been drinking much more than the amount of PFAS found to be safe by the EPA, according to its latest Health Advisory for these chemicals.
Pharmaceuticals in urine are flushed into sewage systems, ultimately making their way to wastewater facilities that treat and release the wastewater. These waste-water treatment systems are not designed to remove PFAS, pharmaceuticals and many pesticides. Additionally, the sewer sludge that is generated from the standard waste water treatment becomes highly concentrated with these chemicals and this sludge is allowed to be spread onto large agricultural fields as fertilizer. The toxins in the sludge are then taken up by the crops and animal products that are grown or grazing on the fields, resulting in contaminated food. The most common human route of exposure to toxic chemicals is through drinking water and contaminated animal products.
Recent testing found medications in 80% of the water samples drawn from 139 streams in 30 states. These medications included antibiotics, antidepressants, blood thinners, heart medications, and hormones. Additionally, personal care products such as perfume, skin lotions and sunscreens and insect repellents are ending up in the water -- products that include phthalates, parabens, DEET and formaldehyde -- all toxic to humans and aquatic life. One study showed antidepressant medication accumulated in the brains of fish downstream from a wastewater treatment facility.
Industrial animal farms are also a major source of water contamination. Two trillion pounds of animal waste is generated each year by large-scale poultry, pig, and cattle operations. This waste is laced with the hormones and antibiotics that are given to these factory-raised animals, and ends up contaminating waterways, and ultimately arriving in city water treatment facilities that can not remove them.
You, M.D. works with water systems and providers that have discovered contamination in order to address health and liability concerns, assess proper treatment to remove the contaminants, and seek compensation where possible.
Our choices of how we use chemicals profoundly affect the health and well-being of our people, our economy, and our society. Many of our current chronic illnesses, particularly neurodevelopmental brain diseases such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders, and endocrine disorders such as thyroid disease and reproductive system disorders, are caused or exacerbated by environmental toxin exposures. There are approximately 80,000 chemicals on the market today, the majority of them with no health safety data. Many of them carry well-known negative effects on our health but remain pervasive in our environment due to lack of regulation and to the prioritizing of chemical industry profits over human health and quality of life. We desperately need fewer chemicals in our water, our air, our food, and our household products.
Our clients include law firms and organizations advocating to clean up and regulate environmental toxins. Please contact us at (828) 768-8866 to discuss how we can be of help to your practice. If you are specifically interested in perfluoroalkyl substances (perfluorochemicals), click here.
Water:
You, M.D. works with local governments, water utilities, and businesses who have an interest in supplying, promoting, or selling pure water.
Tap water is easy and accessible, but is more and more frequently contaminated with industrial toxins such as PFAS, lead, pesticides, arsenic, fluoride, and a multitude of pharmaceuticals. These chemicals and drugs get into tap water in a variety of ways. Industries dispose of their PFAS or other toxin-laden manufacturing waste water into rivers or it seeps into surrounding groundwater from industry landfills. River and groundwater is often the drinking water source of public water works facilities. While these facilities treat the river or reservoir water to make it drinkable, current systems are not designed to remove PFAS, pharmaceuticals, or pesticides. Data from EPA and EWG PFAS testing of drinking water shows that over 200 million Americans are drinking water contaminated by PFAS. People in these areas have been drinking much more than the amount of PFAS found to be safe by the EPA, according to its latest Health Advisory for these chemicals.
Pharmaceuticals in urine are flushed into sewage systems, ultimately making their way to wastewater facilities that treat and release the wastewater. These waste-water treatment systems are not designed to remove PFAS, pharmaceuticals and many pesticides. Additionally, the sewer sludge that is generated from the standard waste water treatment becomes highly concentrated with these chemicals and this sludge is allowed to be spread onto large agricultural fields as fertilizer. The toxins in the sludge are then taken up by the crops and animal products that are grown or grazing on the fields, resulting in contaminated food. The most common human route of exposure to toxic chemicals is through drinking water and contaminated animal products.
Recent testing found medications in 80% of the water samples drawn from 139 streams in 30 states. These medications included antibiotics, antidepressants, blood thinners, heart medications, and hormones. Additionally, personal care products such as perfume, skin lotions and sunscreens and insect repellents are ending up in the water -- products that include phthalates, parabens, DEET and formaldehyde -- all toxic to humans and aquatic life. One study showed antidepressant medication accumulated in the brains of fish downstream from a wastewater treatment facility.
Industrial animal farms are also a major source of water contamination. Two trillion pounds of animal waste is generated each year by large-scale poultry, pig, and cattle operations. This waste is laced with the hormones and antibiotics that are given to these factory-raised animals, and ends up contaminating waterways, and ultimately arriving in city water treatment facilities that can not remove them.
You, M.D. works with water systems and providers that have discovered contamination in order to address health and liability concerns, assess proper treatment to remove the contaminants, and seek compensation where possible.