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Study measures chemicals, hormones in drinking water

Bisphenol A is a common endocrine disruptor chemical that is used in plastics, flame retardant clothes, cans that store food and other manufactured products. These chemicals have been linked to several forms of cancer and other conditions that effect the reproductive system.
Jan. 31, 2017 -- Drinking water from 10 Iowa cities is being studied using a novel bioassay to measure levels of chemical activity that can mimic or alter normal hormonal activities. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) have been linked to adverse effects on human reproductive systems and the thyroid. This exposure may cause hormonal-related malignancies, including breast, ovarian, prostate and thyroid cancers.

The State Hygienic Laboratory and the UI Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC) assisted scientists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the study of the effect of EDCs in public drinking water. Hygienic Lab scientists provided collection materials, performed laboratory sample preparation and sent extracts to the NCI lab, which performed the bioassay.

CHEEC provided the study with background data on characteristics of Iowa public water, including treatment methods and source organic content. It also contacted the local public water supply operators who collected the samples in the spring and fall of 2016.

NCI summarized the initial findings in the poster, “A Novel Bioassay as a Global Indicator of Endocrine Disruption in Public Drinking Water Supplies” presented last September in Rome at the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology annual conference. It also will be presented at the Iowa Governor’s Conference this coming April.

Because EDCs may be present in both treated and untreated drinking water, samples of both were collected from the 10 public water supplies for testing. EDC mixtures from a rural state like Iowa can contain nitrates, derived from nitrogen fertilizers and animal wastes; atrazine and other EDC-containing herbicides; and organophosphate-containing pesticides.

These unique EDC mixtures can present challenges using traditional and more expensive testing methods for EDCs—liquid chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry—which target specific contaminants in a sample. The NCI study uses the recently developed bioassay to provide a global indication of a wide range of EDC contaminants in the water samples simultaneously, rather than a single chemical.

Terry Cain, environmental lab supervisor, expressed excitement in being part of the cutting edge research study, “There is much to learn about endocrine disrupting chemicals in relation to human health, and this study could prove to be an important step in evaluating EDCs in drinking water.”