Yes, swallowing chromium causes cancer!

Solid evidence that hexavalent chromium causes cancer by ingestion is provided in the scientific analyses of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization, whose representatives were in Athens a few weeks ago and attended the conference on the presence of the harmful substance in drinking water, organized by the ministry of the Environment.

The alarming findings of the IARC are added to those demonstrated by a recent epidemiological study by the University of Athens for the region of Oinofyta, where for decades people have been drink contaminated water, leading to rampant incidences of cancer!

The head of the international service indicated that the compounds containing hexavalent chromium are carcinogenic to humans, a fact which necessitates the revision of the institutional framework for limits in drinking water.

There was agreement between the Greek and international scientists that it is not clear whether the current limits for total chromium (100mg in the U.S., 50mg in the EU and the WTO) are ensuring public health. The conclusions of the conference were presented by the ministry of the Environment yesterday, three weeks after the closed-door international meeting, which opens the discussion on the change of the institutional framework based on new scientific data.

«They believe that the creation of a team of distinguished scientists for hexavalent chromium in the USA, and California especially, which will monitor international developments, will trigger the reflexes of Europe, which has downgraded this issue» said to protothema.gr the Special Secretary of Waters, Andreas Andreadakis, who was in charge of the meeting.

As he stresses, each country can impose its own strict limits on chromium in water, something that will probably happen in Greece too. «We must understand that wherever we encounter high concentrations of this harmful substance, we should not be entrenched behind the statutory limits of total chromium, which are 50mg, but either take remedial action wherever possible, or seek alternative methods for supplying drinking water» says Andreadakis.

There is an attempt in the area of Asopos to bring water in from Mornos, while in Psahna in Evia similar studies by EYDAP and the municipality are seeking sources of clean drinking water.
 
They are talking about strict limits in California

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of California has proposed as an aim for public health the introduction of strict limits of 0,02 mg per liter in drinking water (initially the limit was thought to be set at 0,06 mg) to protect vulnerable social groups.

As mentioned, this limit is calculated on the basis of the "one in a million" risk, i.e. if one million people drink water with this much concentration of hexavalent chromium for 70 years, then they risk being afflicted. However, the Special Secretary believes that this is a very strict limit, estimating that a higher one will be adopted, but with the required security.

  Among the most important conclusions of the conference were the following:

* the reduction of hexavalent to trivalent chromium and vice versa are complicated procedures associated with other factors such as pollution from industry or agriculture
* The presence of hexavalent and trivalent chromium in the aquatic environment may be due to geological formations such as ophiolithic rocks.

In Europe, widespread presence of such clusters is observed, among other countries, in Greece, Albania and Italy. It is stressed, however, that the presence of hexavalent chromium in significant concentrations can be linked, but not necessarily, with the dumping of industrial waste.

There is an interesting reference to the Office of Geological Studies in the U.S., which has developed techniques to separate natural and anthropogenic hexavalent chromium, and methods for measuring the field for low concentrations that reach 0,05 mg/ltr, which are ongoing.