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The 411 on NSF 401Thursday, August 14, 2014 - by Water2Drink![]() If you have done any research on water filtration systems,
you most likely know that the highest quality systems not only rely on
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, but also are tested to, and
certified against, NSF International standards. While there are myriad
contaminants that are reduced or eliminated by a certified filter, you may not
know that currently there is no EPA standard for emerging contaminants in
drinking water.
What are emerging contaminants? They are chemicals being discovered that
previously have not been detected, or are being detected at significantly
different levels than previously acceptable.
These include #pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pathogens, #hormones, #antimicrobials, veterinary drugs and feed additives. These chemicals can accumulate in human
tissue or blood, and are associated with health effects such as endocrine
disruption. The EPA has not been able to
create drinking water standards for these emerging compounds, as only recently chemists
have been able to measure trace amounts of the #contaminants present in public
water supplies.
But now the issue has been identified and #NSF is working to
develop a testing standard for emerging contaminants. A recent issue of Scientific American describes the issue in depth.
The new testing standard is identified as NSF Standard 401: Drinking Water
Treatment Units – Emerging Compounds/Incidental Contaminants. Since
this is a new unpublished standard and testing protocols have not been
finalized, no drinking water filter system can honestly promote that they are
in compliance with the new standard, including Multipure’s. However, Dr. Andrew
Fenwick, PhD, of Multipure International is actively working on NSF standards
committees to help finalize testing protocols. #Multipure will continue to be
on the forefront of product testing and standards compliance certification when
the new NSF Standard 401 is published. |
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