European Union officials have been ridiculed after stating that drink manufacturers should not claim that water can prevent dehydration.   They concluded that, after a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the claim.

They ruling followed an application for the right to state on a label that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration”.

According to the Telegraph:

“However, last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement.”

The KHOU 11 News I-Team has been investigating the quality of the tap water in Texas.  They discovered that many of the state’s communities have a problem with radioactive contamination in the local drinking water.

Many of the people drinking the water, however, have no idea that it poses a health risk.

According to KHOU:

“… [N]eighborhoods across the state have been getting illegal amounts of a particularly damaging form of radiation, an exposure that some say was ‘covered-up’ by Texas officials.”

TaPPeD – The Movie from David Garcia on Vimeo.

By 2030, two-thirds of the world will lack access to clean water.  Watch this movie to learn why corporate control of drinking water may be on the way — and what that might entail.

Kidney stones can be an extremely painful condition.  The number of Americans getting kidney stones is on the rise, perhaps because of the current epidemic of obesity. The Harvard Health Letter has assembled six tips on how you can avoid them.  Here are a few:

Keep your fluid intake up. Drink plenty of water, and the mineral concentrations in your urine won’t get as high.

Eat calcium-rich foods. If there’s plenty of calcium in your diet, it binds to oxalate in your intestine before the oxalate has a chance to get into your urine

However, don’t take calcium supplements. Postmenopausal women who take calcium supplements have been shown to be 20% more likely to develop kidney stones.

To see the rest of their tips, you can click on the link below.

The artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) has been shown to be a widespread of contaminant of waste water, surface water and ground water. In a recent test, water samples from 19 U.S. drinking water treatment plants serving more than 28 million people were analyzed for sucralose.

Sucralose was found to be present in the source water of 15 out of 19 of plants tested, in the finished water of 13 out of 17, and in the distribution system water of 8 out of 12.

According to the study, as linked by Green Med Info:

“Further, in the subset of [drinking water treatment plants] with distribution system water sampled, the compound was found to persist regardless of the presence of residual chlorine or chloramines … The results of this study confirm that sucralose [is] an indicator compound … for the presence of other recalcitrant compounds in finished drinking water”.

Ever wonder why those last few pounds just won’t come off – or why you might even gain weight when you’re on a diet? Believe it or not, you may be sabotaging yourself with some bad diet habits without realizing it. In a 16-point list, Bodhifitonline talks about diet habits that can wreak havoc with a weight loss program.

For example, simply not eating enough could be the one thing that sets you up to fail. You may already have guessed that following celebrity diets isn’t always a good thing – but did you know that the government’s food guidelines not only can ruin a diet but make you gain weight? The good news is that once you know what you’re doing wrong, it’s easy to get back on track.

It wasn’t long ago that very few athletes had heard of coconut water. Now, sales to athletes have skyrocketed because of the drinks reputation as a healthy and natural source of electrolytes.

However, while pure coconut water contains many electrolytes, like sodium, many commercial varieties have less sodium than is found in juice straight from a coconut or traditional sports drinks. A recent study found that popular varieties contain less sodium and magnesium than advertised.

According the New York Times:

“… [F]or those who exercise at a moderate intensity for an hour or less, water is probably the better choice … [but] coconut water can hydrate as well as a sports drink if it has enough sodium.”

Dr. Margaret McCartney, a general practitioner from Scotland, says that the common health advice that you should drink six to eight cups of water each day is “thoroughly debunked nonsense”.  She argues that it is propagated by bottled water companies out to make a profit.

In a commentary, McCartney quoted experts who say that drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia (low sodium levels in the blood).

According to the Los Angeles Times:

“Experts were quick to pounce on the commentary as being misleading … The answer isn’t cut and dry, says an article by the Mayo Clinic, and depends on your exercise level, health conditions and the heat and humidity of your environment. In general, the Institute of Medicine recommends about nine cups of beverages for women and 13 cups for men … Most people do well to drink when they’re thirsty.”

The truth is, your body has come equipped with a mechanism that tells you when you need to replenish your supply — it’s called thirst!  When your body begins to lose from 1 percent to 2 percent of its total water, your thirst mechanism lets you know that it’s time to drink some water.  Perhaps the question we should have been asking for so long is not how much water should we be drinking, but what type of water should we be drinking? The answer is clean, spring water and filtered water — I do not recommend drinking tap water or distilled water. Contrary to the traditional belief, it’s also important to avoid fluoridated water.

A study shows that water may be more effective than acid-inhibiting drugs in its effect on gastric pH.

Study participants were given either a glass of water, antacid, ranitidine, omeprazole, esomeprazole, or rabeprazole. Their gastric pH was recorded for 6 hours after each drug intake.  Water increased gastric pH by more than 4 after just one minute. In contrast, antacid took 2 minutes, and most of the other drugs took more than two hours.

According to the study in Digestive Diseases and Sciences:

“Water and antacid immediately increased gastric pH, while PPIs showed a delayed but prolonged effect compared to ranitidine.”

Microwave oven manufacturers claim the not only is microwaving safe, but that it can even make food more healthy. However, some studies suggest that long-term exposure to this nonionizing form of radiation may have a carcinogenic effect

An experiment conducted by Arielle Reynolds a few years ago had a disturbing effect. Reynolds created a science fair project in which she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants. In nine days, the plant watered with the microwaved version had withered and died!

According to the European Union Times:

“She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference. So if the microwave water kills plants it can definitely hurt people too.”

Many public schools in the U.S. don’t provide cups. If a child wants water with lunch, he or she has to wait in line at a water fountain often shared by hundreds of other students for a few sips in the middle of a meal. Most don’t bother.

Nutrition advocates believe schoolchildren’s access to water is a national problem the federal government has only begun to address. Only fifteen percent of middle school children consume adequate amounts of water.

According to CNN:

“Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 in December to improve school nutrition in the National School Lunch Program.  The legislation requires that clean water be easily available in school. Advocates welcome the new legislation but say it’s not clear if the new rules will go far enough to address the lack of hydration. According to the new federal law, school districts will have to provide water in student eating areas, but the law doesn’t discuss accessibility.”

Some schools are hesitating because of another issue — the Los Angeles Unified School District says it cannot afford the estimated $1.8 million to $2.3 million annually it says it would cost to provide the cups and water for the entire district. Free drinking water and cups could also decrease their revenue from bottled water sales.

Kraft Foods is rolling out MiO, a “liquid water enhancer”.  It is a no-calorie line of concentrated liquid flavorings.  This will be Kraft’s first new food or beverage category in more than 15 years.

According to USA Today:

“Kraft officials say that in an era of personalization, it’s all about dripping as many drops of flavor as you want into your water.”

Of course, it should come as no surprise to anyone that “MiO” is loaded with artificial colors, artificial sweeteners and preservatives.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said that preventing children from being exposed to contaminated water could spare them from autism.

Jackson made the remark at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) asked if a recent executive order by President Barack Obama meant that the EPA could put any rules in place if “the benefits outweigh the costs.”

According to CNS News, Jackson replied:

“Our science may be good, but I don’t know how you price the ability to try to forestall a child who may not get autism if they’re not exposed to contaminated water.  And I think language in that order is about those things where we can be protective for a reasonable amount of money, to make sure our children and future generations are not guinea pigs.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to set a limit on the amount of the chemical perchlorate and other toxic contaminants in drinking water.  This will reverse a 2008 decision made the George W. Bush administration.

Perchlorate is used in fireworks, road flares, and rocket fuel.  It may be also present in bleach and some fertilizers. Research indicates that it can affect your thyroid and disrupt the development of fetuses and infants.

According to CNN:

“… [M]onitoring data shows more than 4 percent of public water systems have detected perchlorate and between 5 and 17 million people may be served drinking water containing it, the EPA said. The decision was made after considering input from nearly 39,000 public comments”.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to set a limit on the amount of the chemical perchlorate and other toxic contaminants in drinking water. This will reverse a 2008 decision made the George W. Bush administration.

Perchlorate is used in fireworks, road flares, and rocket fuel. It may be also present in bleach and some fertilizers. Research indicates that it can affect your thyroid and disrupt the development of fetuses and infants.

According to CNN:

“… [M]onitoring data shows more than 4 percent of public water systems have detected perchlorate and between 5 and 17 million people may be served drinking water containing it, the EPA said. The decision was made after considering input from nearly 39,000 public comments”.

By Dr. Mercola

You’ve probably heard a lot about bottled water. That it’s healthier for you than tap water, that it can replace your vitamins, that it’s really only tap water and how environmentally unfriendly it is.

With this type of conflicting information about water, it’s easy to get confused. Let’s see if we can help you cut through the clutter and lead you down the path to healthier water consumption.

Environmental Impact

There’s no sense in sugar-coating it. Bottled water is destructive to the environment. It is a fact that 67 million water bottles are thrown away each day.

That’s a staggering amount of waste considering only 10 percent of these water bottles are ever recycled. Despite the good reputation recycling has, this practice is not always best for the ecosystem as it is labor-intensive, costly and burns natural resources. Also, just because you are throwing your used water bottles into the recycling bin, it does not necessarily mean they are able to be recycled.

Another problem with bottled water is the incredible amount of fuel needed to transport these heavy loads of plastic (and sometimes glass) bottles to your local supermarket, home or office.

Where Your Bottled Water REALLY Comes From

About 40 percent of bottled water is nothing more than bottled tap water! So not only might you still be drinking all the chemicals you were trying to avoid in the first place, you may be exposing yourself to even MORE chemicals by drinking from plastic bottles …

The Dangers of Plastic

Drinking water from a plastic water bottle poses serious health risks to you and your family. Let’s take a look at some of these dangers  to give you a better idea of why bottled water is not the healthy choice you’ve been led to believe it is.

Plastic would obviously be an issue for most bottled waters but it also comes into play for home or commercially filtered waters, or even raw spring water in that you need a container to store your water before you consume it. Obviously the best container is glass because when you choose plastic you are potentially exposed to the following chemicals.

BPA – Bisphenol A or BPA is an estrogen-mimicking chemical that has been linked to a host of serious health problems including:

• Learning and behavioral problems
• Altered immune system function
• Early puberty in girls and fertility problems
• Decreased sperm count
• Prostate and breast cancer
• Diabetes and obesity

If you are pregnant or nursing, your child is also at risk. If you are feeding your baby or toddler from a plastic bottle, switch to glass to avoid BPA contamination.

Phthalates — Phthalates are widely used in the United States to make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible.

Phthalates are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been linked to a wide range of developmental and reproductive effects, including:

• Reduced sperm counts
• Testicular atrophy or structural abnormality
• Liver cancer

Further, in experiments on rats, phthalates have demonstrably blocked the action of fetal androgens, which affects gender development in male offspring, leading to undescended testes at birth and testicular tumors later in life.

Studies have also found that boys whose mothers had high phthalate exposures while pregnant were much more likely to have certain demasculinized traits and produce less testosterone.

Yet another study found that pregnant women who are exposed to phthalates gave birth more than one week earlier than women who were not exposed to them.

Pharmacy in a Bottle — As mentioned above, about 40 percent of bottled water is tap water. This means you are not only exposed to  dangerous BPA from the bottle, you may also be exposed to a variety of water contaminants such as fluoride, chlorine, arsenic, aluminum, disinfection byproducts and prescription drugs.

Although you may have been told that disposing your unused prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in the garbage instead of down the toilet means this eliminates the threat of your water supply being contaminated, this is simply not true. Water that drains through landfills, known as leach rate, eventually ends up in rivers. Although not all states source drinking water from rivers, many do.

According to studies, human cells do not grow normally when exposed to even minute amounts of prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

Some drugs that were never meant to be combined are mixed together in the drinking water you consume every day. Millions of people have drug allergies. Are you one of them? If so, how do you know the unusual symptoms you’ve been exhibiting are not due to ingesting small doses of the drugs you’re allergic to from your bottled water?

Ticking Time Bomb

Though drinking bottled water directly from a store shelf poses serious health risks, leaving this bottled water in your car or strapped to your bike and exposed to the hot sun will cause even more serious chemical exposure. Ultraviolet rays from the sun or high temperatures will accelerate leaching of the plastic chemicals mentioned above into the water.

Adding to this health threat is a toxic substance called dioxin, which is also released into bottled water when it is left in the sun. Dioxin has been strongly linked to the development of breast cancer.

Health-conscious people like to transport filtered water from home to ensure a safe supply on the go. If you’re one of these individuals, using a glass or steel bottle instead will bypass the risks associated with carrying filtered water in plastic.

“Vitamin Water” – As Unhealthy as Soda

One of the biggest scams soda manufacturers have come up with is, “vitamin water”. The marketers for this cleverly disguised “health drink” take advantage of your growing interest in health and try to make you believe it can measure up to the vitamins and minerals in food. It can’t even come close.

In truth, vitamin water is one of the worst types of bottled water you can drink!

Most vitamin waters contain health-harming additives such as high fructose corn syrup, which is a primary cause of  obesity and diabetes, and food dyes that can wreak havoc on your physical and emotional health.

Don’t be fooled. Skip the vitamin water. If you eat a healthy diet and follow my comprehensive nutritional plan, most of your vitamins will come from food. For more information about the health hazards of vitamin waters, please see this link.

Do Not Deliver

For years, you may have enjoyed the ease and convenience of having bottled water delivered straight to your door. The idea of being able to avoid the dangerous chemicals in tap water by having your very own water cooler full of fresh, mountain spring water to drink from may have seemed to good to be true.

Turns out, it was. Home water delivery is not an environmentally-friendly way to get the water you need.The plastic bottles they come in pose health risks that are less significant than the pint or quart water bottles as they have denser plastic and they typically are reused many times, unlike the smaller bottles.

Although some water home delivery companies will ship their water in glass, you still have no real idea where your water is coming from. Also, the load is that much heavier and requires that much more fuel to transport and heavy glass bottles can be difficult to manage and have been known to break and cut  seriously injure or even kill people.

The Truth about Fluoride

Tap water, and bottled water that originates from tap water, is loaded with fluoride. Though you may have been lead to believe this substance to be vital to the dental health of you and your family, this is simply not the case. Unfortunately, the belief that fluoride prevents cavities is a common misconception. In fact, the exact opposite is true.

As this  recent study done on children in India shows, fluoride is anything but a cavity fighter. Fluoride is a toxin that actually leads to an increased risk of cavities and can cause a wide range of health problems, including weakening your immune system and accelerating aging due to cellular damage.

One study, published in the September 2001 issue of International Journal of Pediatric Dentistry, found that South African children who drank water containing high levels of natural fluoride (3 ppm), had more tooth decay than children in other parts of South Africa who drank much lower concentrations (between 0.19 to 0.48 ppm).

And fluoride-saturated American teenagers had twice the rate of cavities as the South African children drinking low levels of natural fluoride!

Your Optimal Water Choices

Your most convenient solution is to filter your own tap water. African women spend five hours per day, on average, seeking out water and carrying it back to their villages. If you’re like most modern Americans, you have indoor plumbing in your home. So, why are you purchasing and transporting bottled water from your supermarket?

The most economical and environmentally sound choice you and your family can make is to purchase and install a water filter for your home.

My team has researched this issue extensively, and I’m pleased to announce that we will soon offer a superior water filtration system for your homecalled the Pure & Clear Whole House System.

Not many of the whole house water filtration systems my team looked at even came close to the level of certification earned by the Pure & Clear Whole House System.

By being tested and certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to ANSI/NSF Standard 42-2003 for chemical reduction of chlorine, the manufacturer of the Pure & Clear Whole House System delivered solid proof of its extraordinary performance.

So, if you really want to filter your entire house from chlorine, DBPs, and other contaminants, this extraordinary 3-stage filtration process is the system for you.

Alternatively, you can look around for sources of mountain spring water, which is about as close to ideal as you can get.

There’s a great website called FindaSpring.com where you can find a natural spring in your area. This is also a great way to get back to nature and teach your children about health and the sources of clean water. The best part is that most of these spring water sources are free!

Final Thoughts

Your body is made up of 80 percent water and you can only live a few days without this precious, life-giving substance. Most of you are dehydrated and not even aware of your body’s many cries for water.

But the quality, and hence the source of your water is vitally important for maintaining optimal health.

To learn even more about water, please visit my water index page for links to more articles on this important topic.

In a nearly unprecedented about face, U.S. federal health officials say Americans are getting too much fluoride.  It’s causing spots on children’s teeth and could be resulting in other, more serious problems.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced plans to lower the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years.  The change in policy is based on a fresh review of the science.

Yahoo News reports:

“The announcement is likely to renew the battle over fluoridation … The Environmental Protection Agency released two new reviews of research on fluoride Friday. One of the studies found that prolonged, high intake of fluoride can increase the risk of brittle bones, fractures and crippling bone abnormalities.”

For further information about the dangers of fluoride, you can watch the video above about a farmer who sued an industrial company that injured and killed his cows with fluoride emissions.  You can see how the animals’ teeth were destroyed in the most painful of ways.

The Environmental Working Group analyzed the and company websites and product labels of over 170 varieties of bottled water to see if the companies disclosed information on where water came from, how the water was treated, and whether the results of tests to ensure purity were revealed. The researchers also called the bottled water companies to see if they would willingly give information to consumers.

More than half of the bottled water products failed the transparency test.  Almost 20 percent didn’t say where their water comes from, and an additional 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

According to Yahoo Green:

“Only three brands earned the highest possible …  Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water … [S]ix brands got the worst marks in EWG’s report … Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, and Cumby’s Spring Water.”

A new study shows that exposure to fluoride may lower children’s intelligence.  Fluoride is added to 70 percent of U.S. public drinking water supplies.

More than 500 children aged 8 to 13 from two different towns were studied and tested.  One city had fluoridated water, and the other did not.

PR Newswire reports:

“About 28 percent of the children in the low-fluoride area scored as bright, normal or higher intelligence compared to only 8 percent in the ‘high’ fluoride area … in the high-fluoride city, 15 percent had scores indicating mental retardation and only 6 percent in the low-fluoride city.”

A new analysis has shown the presence of hexavalent chromium, a probably carcinogen, in the tap water of 31 cities across the U.S.  Bottled water may not be an alternative, because it is often drawn from municipal water systems and can still contain hexavalent chromium or other contaminants.

Basic water filters do not remove hexavalent chromium.  However, reverse-osmosis systems designed for home use can take the chemical out of water.

The Washington Post reports:

“The analysis, released … by the Environmental Working Group, is the first nationwide look at hexavalent chromium in drinking water to be made public. The advocacy group sampled tap water from 35 cities and detected hexavalent chromium in 31 of those communities. Of those, 25 had levels that were higher than a health goal proposed last year by the state of California.”

Those are important lessons to be learned from the recent release of a CDC report on the 2004 crisis of lead in the water in the Washington DC area. After years of denial and stonewalling, the CDC acted only under sustained pressure from safe-water advocates, the media and Congress.

In addition, the CDC and EPA have done almost nothing to alert the public about the report, even though it raises major questions about U.S. government policies on lead pipes.  The report puts in question the safety of drinking water in numerous houses in cities that include Washington DC, Chicago, Detroit and Providence.

According to the Washington Post:

“When exposed to lead, young children risk suffering diminished IQ. The main threat in old homes comes from lead in paint and dust, and the added danger posed by water is subtle and hard to quantify. But the new report says it’s real.”

The residents of Waterloo, Ontario in Canada have voted to stop adding fluoride to their water supply.  The decision has been welcomed by anti-fluoride campaigners.

The incoming head of the Ontario Dental Association, Dr. Harry Hoediono, has condemned the decision, claiming that people are unaware of the dental health benefits of fluoride.  Campaigners against fluoride believe that adding the chemical to the water supply can cause health problems including cancer, thyroid disease and arthritis.

Cosmetic Dentistry Guide reports:

“Most councilors … voted in favor of stopping [fluoridation] to support public opinion … [H]ealth officials had failed to run an effective campaign”.

It’s the dieter’s version of “Starve a Cold and Feed a Fever.” Or is that “Feed a cold…?”

(CC) FLICKR/BAKING_IN_PEARLS

It’s an almost timeless tip offered to persons trying to reduce their weight, a veritable given: Drink a glass of water before every meal; it will fill some space in your stomach and lessen your feeling of hunger. The thing is, this bit of wisdom was like “put butter on a burn”: one of those accepted truths that nobody had actually ever tested, in part because it seemed to make sense.

As it happens, some scientists did test the “butter on a burn” rule and found out that it was nonsense. And now, some other scientists have begun testing the “glass of water before meals” rule, and happily, the results are rather more positive. A study in 2007 found that drinking water prior to meals reduced one’s hunger pangs and calorie intake, while another in 2008 determined that overweight people who drank water before breakfast reduced their calorie intake by 13 percent.

And now comes confirmation from Virginia Tech, where a group of overweight middle-aged people were placed on low-cal diets for three months, with half being told to drink two cups of water before each meal. The water group lost an average of 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the dry group.

Unfortunately, there could be a major limitation to the usefulness of the water gambit: it might only work for people of a certain age. The 2007 study, for example, found that the water ploy had no positive effect on subjects under age 35, and the Virginia Tech study was limited to persons 55 or older.

Researchers will invariably test the water effect on various age groups to see how specific it is or isn’t, but until the results are in, it couldn’t hurt those who are young and overweight to give it a try. As “diet aids” go, you certainly can’t beat the price.

Dealing With Boomerang Fat: The Kind that Just Keeps Coming Back

It’s the dieters’ axiom and the dieters’ curse: Anyone can shed some pounds over the short term; keeping them off is the real challenge. Well, according to a new study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, you can meet that challenge by simply loading up on protein and keeping the carbohydrates to a minimum.

The data: 773 overweight and obese adults who had lost an average of 24 pounds after two months of a low-fat diet were divided into five groups whose diets involved varying proportions of protein to carbs. All subjects could eat as much and as often as they wanted, within those diet restrictions. After six months, only the low-protein, unlimited-carbs group had regained a significant amount of weight — almost four pounds — while the high-protein, low-carb group actually trended toward a bit more weight reduction.

The conclusion: To prevent weight regain, eat lots of meats, fish, poultry and beans, and avoid starchy carbohydrates such as baked goods and pasta. The great virtue of this diet, other than the weight control, is that within its restrictions can eat as much as one wants without having to count calories or shrink portions — which means that the dieter will be much more likely to stick to it.

Sources:
Water Diet — “Water before meal helps some…,” Anahad O’Connor, New York Times, 11/24/10.

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News):

Does the Water Diet Really Work? And the Best Diet for Keeping Lost Weight Lost is a post from: CalorieLab Diet News

For ages, dieters have been encouraged to employ a simple trick — drink water before meals.  The reasoning is that the water fills your stomach, reducing hunger. But does it work?

Research shows that it does.  A recent study followed a group of overweight subjects age 55 and up. Half the people were told to drink two cups of water before every meal. At the end of the study, those who drank the water lost more than 15 pounds, on average, while those who didn’t lost only 11.  However, another study showed a similar result, but only in older adults — there was little effect on subjects under 35.

According to the New York Times:

“It’s not clear why, but the researchers pointed out that because older adults are at increased risk of being overweight and obese, further studies should determine whether this is effective for the aging population.”

New York City officials have advised residents to run their tap water for at least 30 seconds before drinking or cooking with it. Testing has showed an increase in the number of homes with high lead levels in their water.

Last year, only 5.4 percent of homes tested exceeded allowable lead levels. This year, that number rose to 14 percent.

According to the New York Times:

“… [A]bout 100,000 … water customers still have lead pipes. Because water that sits in those pipes for several hours is more likely to have lead in it, residents are advised to reduce their potential for exposure by running the tap for half a minute until it is cold. (Hot water absorbs lead more easily.)”

The human body can’t break it down and use Splenda. And as it turns out, modern wastewater treatment methods don’t break down Splenda either.

Smitha Ramakrishna, a finalists in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, found that the sweetener can accumulate in the water supply after people excrete it. This could potentially cause harm to fish and other living creatures.

Scientific American reports:

“She tried to start doing research at Arizona State University, though since she was the first high schooler her lab had ever had … [E]ventually she was allowed to subject sucralose to various treatments, like bacterial digestion, typically used in wastewater treatment plants. She found that sucralose resisted most of these treatments … that means almost all the sucralose people eat or drink winds up in the ecosystem.”

An outside scientist group, eager to perform independent evaluations of the government’s findings on the Gulf oil spill, are complaining that the information released doesn’t contain enough information to make a proper evaluation. As reported by AlterNet.com:

“Multiple independent scientists involved in studying the effects of the Gulf oil spill not only revealed that government claims of sufficient transparency are wholly misleading, but they also provided several key examples of how withholding this information precludes independent evaluation and opens a raft of critical unanswered questions,” AlterNet said.

One scientist told AlterNet that “What they’ve done in a lot of instances is [provide] kind of first or second order binning or summarizing or distilling, which makes a lot of the data unusable or unavailable,”

According to a report in Science Daily, a new Canadian study shows that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures. The results were published in an article in Environmental Health Perspectives.

While manganese is naturally occurring in soil and groundwaters around the world, some of Canada’s groundwaters contain an unusually high amount of it, giving the researchers an opportunity to study whether excessive manganese can adversely affect human health. “We found significant deficits in the intelligence quotient (IQ) of children exposed to higher concentration of manganese in drinking water,” said lead author Maryse Bouchard. Yet, some areas where lower IQs were reported also registered concentrations below current guidelines. In response to the study, some of the affected municipalities have already decided to install special filtration systems.

A story in Indiana Business Journal reports that proteins from genetically altered crops are showing up in Indiana waterways. According to the Journal, the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University looked at 217 streams, drains and ditches near Indiana cornfields and found genetically modified (GM) bug-killing protein in 50 of them.

The protein is in genetically modified corn and other crops that are engineered to produce their own pesticide when insects bite them. But when farmers mow the fields, the residue remains from the crushed plants – and it’s finding its way to the waterways.

“The protein is carried to surface water by runoff and by the leaves and stalks that sometimes wash into streams,” the Journal said. “And the protein lingers. The study was conducted six months after harvest.” The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says it is not known whether the trace levels of the protein are a threat to invertebrates in the water.

But either way – it’s still poison, and it’s a poison that was in 85 percent of the U.S. corn crop last year.

A new study is the first to provide a comprehensive characterization of the effects of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in an indoor pool environment. It found that swimming in indoor chlorinated pools may induce DNA damage that can lead to cancer.

DBPs form from reactions between disinfectants and organic matter. Previous studies have found an association between DBPs in drinking water and bladder cancer. The new study looked at close to 50 healthy adults after they swam for 40 minutes in the chlorinated pool. The researchers found increases in two genotoxicity biomarkers associated with cancer risk.

Newswise reports:

“In addition, the authors identified more than 100 DBPs in the pool waters, some never reported previously in swimming pool water and/or chlorinated drinking water. In vitro assays showed that the swimming pool water was mutagenic at levels similar to that of drinking water but was more cytotoxic (can kill cells at a lower concentration) than drinking water.”