Product Chemicals in Minnesota Waters

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1 Product Chemicals in Minnesota Waters Widespread use of toxic chemicals in consumer products is a public health concern, but it s also an environmental problem. Chemicals in Our Homes Hundreds of harmful chemicals end up in the products we buy and use ever day, including hormone disrupting chemicals in cleaning products and cosmetics and brain damaging chemicals in children s clothing, personal care products, and toys. Of the over 84,000 chemicals registered for commercial use in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has only required safety testing on 200. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has designated nine priority chemicals as particularly harmful and likely to expose children, because of their toxicity and wide use, including hormone- disrupting phthalates, bisphenol- A (BPA) and flame- retardants, carcinogenic formaldehyde and the brain toxins, cadmium and lead.1 Household Chemicals in Our Environment While people routinely experience personal exposures to household product chemicals, either directly or via house dust, these chemicals are also released into the broader environment along the product life cycle, from manufacturing, to consumer use, to disposal. Chemicals in everyday household products can end up in landfills, wastewater, incinerator emissions, surface water, groundwater, soil, and from there, build up in wildlife and humans. For example, BPA is released in landfills and significant levels have been found in water leaching from landfills. It then ends up in groundwater, wastewater and ultimately surface water. Although BPA breaks down over a few days, it is so widely used that it is continuously released again into the environment. Another example is the antibacterial triclosan used in personal care products which washes down the drain and into the environment through wastewater. Most wastewater treatment fails to remove all of the triclosan, so it is found in lakes and streams. While it degrades rapidly in surface water, ongoing wastewater discharges assure that triclosan will continue to be present in surface water. Unlike BPA, triclosan bio- accumulates in the aquatic food chain and can break down in sunlight into toxic dioxins.

2 A U.S. Geological Service (USGS) study 2 found that bio- solids (sludge) from wastewater treatment plants retain relatively high quantities of household chemicals, including fragrance compounds, detergent metabolites, flame- retardants, disinfectant chemicals, plasticizers and preservatives. Bio- solids are routinely used as fertilizer for agriculture crops, home gardens and landscapers. However, little is known about the fate and transport of chemicals of concern in bio- solids and their potential ecological effects. Chemicals in Minnesota Waters and the Great Lakes A large Minnesota study 3 4 found hormone- active chemicals present upstream and downstream of 25 wastewater treatment sites across the state of Minnesota. The study detected triclosan, nonylphenol (NP), BPA and other chemicals, as well as pharmaceuticals in wastewater, surface water and sediments. BPA and NP and several other substances were detected in upstream locations, indicating that wastewater is not the only source of contamination. 5 The mix of endocrine active chemicals in Minnesota water has been found to be biologically active, causing genetic changes in fish, even at the low concentrations detected in the study. The Minnesota Department of Health s Contaminants of Emerging Concern program 6 has also identified numerous household chemicals that have found their way into Minnesota groundwater, surface water and drinking water. Examples of chemicals detected in Minnesota waters and in the Great Lakes include: Flame retardants TCEP 7 and TDCPP 8 in drinking water, surface water and wastewater; and TBBPA and TBBPS in herring gull eggs in the Great Lakes region. 9 The antibacterials triclosan 10 and triclocarban 11 in surface water and wastewater, as well as in Great Lakes sediments. 12 The personal care product chemical, 1,4- dioxane in drinking water and groundwater in Minnesota. 13 Hormone disrupting chemicals, BPA and three phthalates in drinking water and wastewater BPA in lakes and streams and groundwater monitoring wells, 16 as well as in the Lake Superior 17 and in lake trout. Phthalates in Great Lakes surface water 18 and sediment. 19 Nonylphenol ethoxylates (surfactants used in pesticides, cleaning and personal care products) and their breakdown products nonylphenols in drinking water, wastewater 20 and in the Great Lakes. 21 Brominated flame retardants, short chain paraffins, 24 and perfluorinated chemicals 25 in Minnesota waters and fish 26 and in the Great Lakes food web. 27 Harm to Aquatic Life According to MDH, exposure to these chemical contaminants in Minnesota drinking water does not pose a health risk for people, as levels in most places are very low. However, chemicals in our waters are placing the reproductive health of fish and other aquatic organisms at risk. Many aquatic species are extremely sensitive to chemical exposure, especially chemicals that disrupt hormones. Triclosan interferes with

3 hormones and can adversely impact survival and reproduction in fish. Phthalates, BPA and the flame retardant TDCPP are hormone disrupters that can also harm the reproduction and development of fish and other aquatic life. Evidence of effects on the reproductive system in fish is very troubling. Male fathead minnows exposed to nonylphenol ethoxylates similar to those in wastewater effluent had female egg laying markers Similar feminization of male fish or intersex characteristics has also been found in walleye 30 and other fish species downstream of sewage treatment plants. 31 Solutions In the long run, the health and vitality of fish populations and other aquatic organisms could be placed at risk from chemical contaminants. While improvements in wastewater treatment technology are needed, preventing toxic chemicals from entering the waste stream and the environment is the best strategy. We need to find and use safer alternatives to toxic chemicals in our products, our homes, our communities and our factories both through regulation and business leadership. Reduction in the use of coal tar sealants is an example of effectively using both approaches. Coal tar sealants are products that are effective at sealcoating asphalt. Unfortunately, they have high levels of toxic PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), which can cause tumors and reproductive problems in fish and increase human cancer risk from exposure to its vapors or sediments. PAHs from the sealcoat over time wash into stormwater ponds, streams and lakes. An MPCA study found that about 67% of total PAHs in the sediments of 15 metro- area stormwater ponds were from coal tar- based sealants. 32 Built- up sediments must be periodically removed, but high levels of PAH contamination mandates disposal in lined landfills, significantly increasing disposal costs for cities. Because of widespread contamination, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) worked with businesses to reduce use of coal tar sealants, helped enact a ban on their use by state agencies and educated consumers on safer alternatives. Home improvement retailers, Lowe s and Home Depot pulled these products off their shelves, and 75 sealcoat contractors signed a pledge not to apply coal tar in Minnesota. These voluntary and education initiatives were followed by a Minnesota ban on the sale and use of coal tar sealants for asphalt driveways, trails and parking lots effective January 1, Information on safer alternatives is available on the MPCA web site. This combination of regulation and business leadership can be applied to other chemicals of concern. For example, Minnesota recently passed a ban on four toxic flame retardants in upholstered furniture and children s products. At the same time, major furniture manufacturers are phasing them out of their products. furniture/ Minnesota also banned triclosan in personal

4 care products for consumer cleansing uses, which will help reduce future levels of this contaminant in Minnesota waters. Every toxic chemical we use and dispose of puts the health of our environment, its wildlife and our own health at risk. To assure a healthy environment we must examine the entire product life cycle for opportunities to prevent toxic chemical uses and releases. Fortunately, better regulation and substituting safer alternatives provide effective solutions for addressing these problems. Contact: Kathleen Schuler, Healthy Kids and Families Program Director, Kathleen@conservationminnesota.org, August, MDH 2 Kinney CA, Furlong ET, Zaugg SD, Burkhardt MR et al. Survey of organic wastewater contaminants in biosolids destined for land application. Environ Sci Technol. 2006;40(23): Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, document.html?gid= Lee KE, Langer SK, Barber LB, Writer JH et al. 2011, Endocrine active chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals of concern in surface water, wastewater- treatment plant effluent, and bed sediment, and biological characteristics in selected streams, Minnesota design, methods, and data, 2009: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 575, 54 p., with appendixes. 5 Ferrey M, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Wastewater Treatment Plant Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Monitoring Study, February MDH TCEP in Drinking Water information sheet 8 MDH TDCPP and Drinking Water information sheet 9 Letcher RJ, Chui S. l. High sensitivity method for determination of tetrabromobisphenol- S and tetrabromobisphenol- A derivative flame retardants in Great Lakes herring gull eggs by liquid chromatography- atmospheric pressure photoionization- tandem mass spectrometry. Envrion Sci Technol. 2010;44(22): MDH Triclosan and Drinking Water information sheet 11 MDH Triclocarban and Drinking Water information sheet 12 Anger CT, Sueper C, Blumentritt DJ, McNeill K et al. Quantification of triclosan, chlorinated triclosan derivatives, and their dioxin photoproducts in lacustrine sediment cores. Environ Sci Technol. 2013;47(4): MDH 1,4- Dioxane in Drinking Water information sheet 14 MDH Bisphenol A in Drinking Water information sheet 15 MDH Phthalates in Drinking Water information sheet 16 Erickson ML, Langer SK, Roth JL, Kroening SE. Contaminants of emerging concern in ambient groundwater in urbanized areas of Minnesota, :U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report , 2014.

5 17 MDH Bisphenol A in Drinking Water information sheet 18 Lyandres O. Keeping Great Lakes Water Safe: Priorities for Protecting against Emerging Chemical Pollutants. 2012, Alliance for the Great Lakes 19 McDowell DC, Metcalfe CD. Phthalate esters in sediments near a sewage treatment plant outflow in Hamilton Harbor, Ontario: SFE extraction and environmental distribution. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 2002;27(1): MDH Nonylphenols and Drinking Water information sheet 21 Klecka G, Persoon C, Currie R. Chemicals od emerging concern in the Great Lakes Basin: an analysis of environmental exposures. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2010;207: Li A, Rockne KJ, Sturchioo N, Song W et al. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in the sediments of the Great Lakes: influencing factors, trends, and implications. Environ Sci Technol. 2006;40(24): Hale R, Alaee M, Manchester- Neesvig J, Stapleton H, Ikonomou M. Polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants in the North American environment. Environment International. 2003;29(6): Houde M, Muir DC, Tomy GT, Whittle DM et al. Bioaccumulation and trophic magnification of short- and medium- chain chlorinated paraffins in food webs from Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan. Environ Sci Technol. 2008;42(10): MDH 26 MDH 27 Alliance for the Great Lakes, Emerging Contaminant Threats and the Great Lakes: Existing Science, Estimating Relative Risk and Determining Policies, Jasinska EJ, Goss GG, Gillis PL, Van Der Kraak GJ et al. Assessment of biomarkers for contaminants of emerging concern on aquatic organisms downstream of a municipal wastewater discharge. Sci Total Environ 2015;15: Barber LB, Lee KE, Swackhamer DL, Schoenfuss HL. Reproductive responses of male fathead minnows exposed to wastewater treatment plant effluent, effluent treated with XAD8 resin, and an environmentally relevant mixture of alkylphenol compounds. Aquat Toxicol 2007;82(1): Miller LM, Bartell SE, Schoenfuss HL. Assessing the effects of historical exposure to endocrine- active compounds on reproductive health and genetic diversity in walleye, a native apex predator, in a large riverine system. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2012;62(4): Tetreault GR, Bennett CJ, Shires K, Knight B et al. Intersex and reproductive impairment of wild fish exposed to multiple municipal wastewater discharges. Aquat Toxicol. 2011;104(3-4): Minnesota Pollution Control Agency types- and- programs/stormwater/municipal- stormwater/restriction- on- coal- tar- based- sealants.html