Analies Dyjak, M.A. | Head of Policy and Perspectives   

Endocrine Disruptors are a category of contaminants that impact your body's natural ability to regulate hormones. Endocrine disruptors can be found in a variety of different consumer products like plastic containers, food cans, cosmetics, medical supplies, as well as drinking water. This article highlights what you need to know about two of the most well-known endocrine disruptors: Bisphenol A (BPA) and Phthalates.

What is Bisphenol A or BPA?

Bisphenol A or BPA is a chemical used in various consumer goods, including several types of plastics, cash receipts, and canned foods. It’s been used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins since the 1960’s. BPA is considered an endocrine disruptor because of how it interacts with certain hormones in the body, including estrogen receptors. BPA can be particularly dangerous for pregnant mothers and babies for these very reasons. Exposure to BPA can cause a handful of negative health effects, including; male and female infertility, precocious puberty, hormone-related tumors (breast and prostate cancers), and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The National Institutes of Health has a full and comprehensive list of these health outcomes.

Is BPA Regulated?

One of the shocking realities of BPA in the United States today is that it’s not entirely banned. Certain states created “disclosure requirements” or “reporting values” when scientists began researching its toxicity. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups in 2012 which is the only robust regulation to date. Plastic companies instead decided to voluntarily phase-out BPA to avoid legal challenges. The issue is that companies tend to replace harmful contaminants with equally, if not more dangerous chemicals. Consumer products are pushed to market before meaningful health studies are completed. This is extremely problematic because the public typically has no idea of the health impacts of certain consumer products until it's too late. We wrote an in-depth article about how drinking water contaminants are regulated in the U.S. and why agencies follow this rather backwards protocol. 

What Are Phthalates?

Phthalates are chemicals that are added to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes and plastics, certain cosmetics, wood varnishes, and even medical supplies. They’re under that class of endocrine disruptors, so they have a direct impact on hormonal functions, reproductive outcomes, and more. Typically people are exposed to phthalates through food that’s been in contact with plastic containers and wraps, consumer or cosmetics containing phthalates as well as drinking water. Again, the good news is that drinking water is the least problematic in that entire list. Similar to BPA, there’s not a whole lot of testing going on for phthalates in drinking water. One of the reasons is because there are so many different variations. A lot of times plastic producers or other industries that produce phthalates will find a version that works better than the last, replace it, and introduce it into the environment. This is the exact same story that's going on with PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water. And all those different variations, only one type of phthalate is regulated in drinking water. So in short it’s safe to say that we just don’t know the entire story of phthalates in drinking water.

Wildfires and Phthalates:

The increase of destructive wildfires in the past few years has prompted researchers to take a closer look at their impact on drinking water. There is a problematic secondary consequence of these natural disasters aside from the influx of debris, fire fighting chemicals, and other pollutants into drinking water sources. Researchers determined that the PVC pipes leached phthalates into the distribution system after coming in contact with heat from the wildfires. Phthalates leach at a high frequency when they are heated. It’s the same reason why certain types of plastic aren’t microwave safe. This will continue to be problematic as more municipalities replace their lead distribution lines with PVC or other types of plastic pipes.

Do All Water Filters Remove BPA and Phthalates?

No. You'll want to make sure your water filter is able to remove these two endocrine disruptors before purchasing. 

Editor's Note: We've been writing more articles about organic chemicals like endocrine disruptors, methylated mercury, so we've been getting a lot of questions about how people become exposed to these chemicals. Even though these questions deal more with food than drinking water, we though that it'd be worthwhile to spend some time on an article explaining how this happens.

What is Bioaccumulation?

Bioaccumulation refers to the process of toxic chemicals building up inside of an organism’s body. This happens when a chemical is consumed or absorbed, and the body cannot catabolize or excrete it quickly enough. Mercury is a well-known chemical that will bioaccumulate in humans. We commonly hear about mercury exposure resulting from eating fish such as tuna (or other large predatory fish). However, mercury as well as many other harmful chemicals can also be found in drinking water supplies across the United States.

Chemicals that tend to bioaccumulate are stored in cells and not exposed to direct physical or biochemical degradation. These chemicals can collect and hide-out, particularly within adipose tissue (fat cells). Fatty mammary tissue often contains the highest concentrations of toxic chemicals. These chemicals in our mammary tissue are then passed along to infants when nursing.

What is Biomagnification?

Biomagnification refers to the process of toxic chemicals increasing in concentration as they move throughout a food chain. Bioaccumulation and biomagnification often work hand-in-hand; one animal accumulates chemicals in the body (bioaccumulation) and then a larger predator consumes that smaller animal such that the chemical is passed along to the predator. The chemical “magnifies” as the resulting concentrations increase in the predator because it likely consumes large quantities of that particular prey throughout its lifetime (biomagnification). As top-level predators in our own food chain, humans tend to collect high concentrations of toxic chemicals in our bodies.

What are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (PBTs)?

PBTs are a particular group of chemicals that threaten the health of humans and the environment. Examples include methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), and dioxins. PBTs are considered extremely dangerous to both humans and wildlife because they remain in the environment for a very long time without breaking down, then bioaccumulate and biomagnify in ecosystems (including ours).

PBTs can also travel long distances and move between air, water, and land. DDT, a notorious environmental pollutant, was developed as a synthetic insecticide in the 1940s. Sprayed over crops, DDT would then wash into water supplies and contaminate lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and oceans. Small organisms such as plankton and algae absorb DDT through the water. Smaller fish then consume the contaminated algae and plankton. Larger predatory fish then consume the smaller fish. Eventually, large predatory birds or humans eat the contaminated fish. Despite being banned in the United States over 40 years ago, DDT is still found in soil and water supplies today. In addition, humans contain the highest concentrations of DDT when compared to other organisms.

How Does This Impact Human Health?

Exposure to PBTs has been linked to a wide range of toxic effects in humans and wildlife. Some of those adverse effects include but are not limited to disruption of the nervous and endocrine systems, reproductive and developmental problems, immune system suppression, and cancer.

How Can I Minimize Exposure To PBTs?

1. Avoid eating species of fish that are long-lived and high on the food chain such as tuna, marlin, shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish.
2. Use a high quality water filter that removes PBTs (e.g. DDT, Dioxins, BPA, Phthalates) from contaminated drinking water before the chemicals get a chance to accumulate in you.

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Eric Roy, Ph.D.  |  Scientific Founder

This past week, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a website where people punch in their zip code, and view contaminants found in their water. As a company that uses water quality data to optimize each customer’s water filter, we applaud EWG for putting in the enormous amount of time & effort to build the database so the public can learn about their water. Unfortunately, we are seeing that these data are being used to generate inflammatory headlines, which can leave consumers confused and unnecessarily panicked.

We will be updating this water quality database blog post as more questions come in. If you have your own question, please reach out to us (hello@hydroviv.com). One of our water nerds will do their best to get back to you very quickly, even if it’s outside of our business hours.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Updated July 31, 2017

Are All Potential Contaminants Listed In The EWG Tap Water Database?

No. The EWG Tap Water Database pulls data from municipal measurements, but municipalities are only required to test for certain things. Simply put, you can’t detect what you don’t look for. One example of this can be seen by punching in Zip Code 28402 (Wilmington, North Carolina) into the EWG Tap Water Database. GenX, a chemical that has been discharged into the Cape Fear River by Chemours since PFOA since 2010, is not listed, even though it’s been in the center of a huge topic of conversation for the past 2 months in the local media.

Why Is The “Health Guideline” Different Than The “Legal Limit?”

The two different thresholds use different criteria. For example, the “Health Guideline” cited by EWG for carcinogens is defined by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) as a one-in-a-million lifetime risk of cancer, while the “Legal Limit” refers to the MCL which is the limit that triggers a violation by EPA. The OEHHA's criteria are established by toxicological techniques, while the EPA limits are negotiated through political channels. We wrote an article that addresses this topic in much more detail for those who are interested.

Why Am I Just Learning About This Now?

The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act requires municipalities to make water quality test data public in Consumer Confidence Reports. These reports are required to talk about the water's source, information about any regulated contaminants found in the water, health effects of any regulated contaminant found above the regulated limit, and a few other things. As discussed before, the data in the EWG report use different criteria than the EPA, and it's hard for people to make sense of what's what.

Are The Data Correct If My Water Comes From A Private Well?

No. The EWG Tap Water Database only has data for municipal tap water. Private wells are completely unregulated, and there's no requirement to conduct testing. If you'd like us to dig into our additional water quality databases to help you understand likely contaminants in your private well, we're happy to do so. We don't offer testing services, but we're happy to help you find an accredited lab in your area, give advice on which tests to run, and help you interpret the results! We offer this service for free.

What About My City's Water Quality?

Hydroviv makes it our business to help you better understand your water. As always, feel free to take advantage of our “help no matter what” approach to technical support! Our water nerds will work to answer your questions, even if you have no intention of purchasing one of our water filters. Reach out by dropping us an email (hello@hydroviv.com) or through our live chat. You can also find us on Twitter or Facebook!

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