US-based toxicology expert Dr Yvonne Burkart claimed toxins such as lead – which is sometimes used to line the water pipes – can peel off and become mixed with the water supply
Brits should be filtering their water to protect against toxic contaminants in the national supply, a toxicologist has claimed.
Some Brits swear by drinking tap water, choosing the free source over the bottled alternative. The water that emerges from the taps at home starts off as rainwater before flowing into rivers and streams. This water is then pumped out to undergo treatment at water treatment plants before it’s fed through pipes to reach British homes.
The level of purity of the water will depend on how rigorously the water company filters it out, with some being more efficient than others, and some leaving in contaminants that can harm humans. Dr Yvonne Burkart, a US-based doctor of toxicology who describes herself as being “obsessed with helping consumers reduce their toxic burden”, features in a video on the popular Diary of a CEO TikTok channel.
In the video, Dr Burkart issues an urgent warning in which she said people could be risking their lives by failing to filter their water properly. When asked by entrepreneur host Steven Bartlett whether a simple water jug filtering system would be enough, Dr Burkart said: “It depends on what kind of filter you have. Some of the more mainstream, lower cost, lower end options do not remove fluoride […] and they don’t filter nearly enough chemicals.”
She then reeled off a list of dangerous toxins that are found in tap water across the globe, including “hormones, endocrine disruptors, pesticides, heavy metals, fluoride, agricultural run-off”. She continued: “There’s a bunch of contaminants in tap water, depending on where you live. Some are worse than others.”
The biggest threat to life would come from the consumption of heavy metals, like lead. “There have been tragic instances of lead, high levels of lead, because of lead piping that water is transported through. So we’ve got to be careful with the water we’re using to drink and cook with”.
Lead poisoning is especially dangerous for young children, who can suffer with issues like developmental delay, develop learning difficulties, or even the bizarre illness called Pica, in which people compulsively eat objects that aren’t food.
In adults, it can cause mood disorders, reduce sperm count and cause miscarriage, stillbirth or premature birth in pregnant women among a list of other gruesome symptoms. It’s incredibly hard to detect at first, and symptoms only appear when life-threatening amounts of the metal have accumulated in the body.
Earlier this year, scientists from @microscope.vision demonstrated the issue by putting samples of tap water under the microscope and sharing their findings on TikTok. The brains behind the account put tap water from the USA and UK under a microscope and looked at it to see what was really in it – and it wasn’t as crystal clear as one might hope.
When put under the microscope, both tap water from the USA and the UK had some questionable, alien-like microbes lurking around in it. The British water looked slightly less sinister, but this did little to settle people’s stomachs. Many claimed they felt sick while watching the video.
