"Is Your Shampoo Poisoning Your Drinking Water?"

"If it’s sudsy, it probably contains dioxane, a likely carcinogen."

"It’s long been known that the toxic chemical 1,4-dioxane seeps into groundwater after being used as a solvent in industrial manufacturing or in consumer hygiene products, like sudsy shampoos and body washes. But it wasn’t until last year, when the chemical was detected in more than half of Long Island’s water supply, that New York state officials started sounding the alarm bells about this invisible contaminant.

This isn’t just a problem in Long Island, or New York; dioxane has been found in drinking water across the country. And that’s not good, considering that the chemical has been classified as a “likely human carcinogen” by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit focused on health and environmental research, analyzed drinking-water samples taken from local utilities across the United States and found dioxane in 45 states’ water—affecting 90 million Americans.

The EWG released a database this week with its research on dioxane levels in each state, revealing that California, New York, and North Carolina had the highest numbers of people exposed to water that is contaminated above the EPA’s suggested standard."

Amy Thomson reports for Mother Jones September 7, 2017.