EPA river pollution cover-up to be exposed by private citizen science lab: lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury tests offered by the Health Ranger, using Agilent ICP-MS instrumentation

Wednesday, August 12, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: EPA pollution, toxic heavy metals, Health Ranger science lab

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(NaturalNews) The incompetence of big government never ceases to amaze me. The EPA -- now known as the "Environmental POLLUTION Agency" -- recently managed to spill 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into the Animas River. The actual composition of that toxic sludge is being kept a secret by the EPA, which is why I'm openly calling for anyone who has access to the river to send me a water sample so I can test it in my lab. (See below.)

The EPA, it turns out, needs to be kept honest by "citizen science." In other words, when the EPA becomes a massive polluter and tries to cover it up, it's up to science-based citizens to hold the EPA accountable by conducting honest, high-integrity private scientific testing that can't be buried by the government and the media.

The total government cover-up of all this, quite predictably, is already well under way. "Rather than express outrage as it has done in the wake of previous environmental disasters, the White House would not comment on the spill and instead directed all questions to the embattled EPA," reports the Washington Times.

The massive spill of toxic lead, arsenic and heavy metals was caused when "...[EPA] contractors accidentally breached a dam at the mine last week and sent toxic sludge flowing into the Animas River. The contaminated water has spread to New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, and EPA officials were forced to concede that more than 3 million gallons were released into the river -- a much higher amount than the agency's initial estimate of 1 million gallons," reports the Times.

The EPA is now engaged in a massive environmental pollution cover-up

The EPA, of course, tried to cover up the spill, hoping nobody would notice the water turning orange as millions of gallons of toxic waste flowed down the river. When the EPA couldn't cover it up any longer, they intentionally underestimated the size of the spill, hoping no one would figure out it was actually three times larger.

If this kind of behavior were exhibited by an oil company, environmentalists would be screaming for the arrest and imprisonment of the CEO. But somehow when the government becomes America's worst polluter, the lies and cover-ups are all quietly excused, it seems.



As the Times reports:

"Their response has been terrible. They've hedged the truth, if you will, which puts people in jeopardy because it turns out it's much worse. They're doing precisely the sorts of things they level charges at other people for doing," said Dan Kish, senior vice president for policy at the conservative Institute for Energy Research.

Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and chairman of the House Science Committee, is quoted in the same story as saying: "It is concerning that the agency charged with ensuring that the nation's waters are clean is reportedly responsible for the toxic water spill at Gold King Mine. A spill of this magnitude could be devastating for the families who live nearby and depend on the Animas River in their daily lives."



How damaging is lead and arsenic in the water supply? I run a high-end elemental analysis laboratory, conducting state-of-the-art scientific research into the heavy metals contamination of foods and beverages (click here to see videos from my lab). My lab can also test for heavy metals in any aqueous substance (such as river water).

I've previously sounded the alarm on rice protein from China, cacao and ginkgo herbs for containing tungsten, lead and cadmium. I've also confirmed the presence of 50,000 ppb of mercury in flu shots. I was the first researcher in the world to discover and document the heavy metal tungsten in organic rice protein. I'm also the inventor of the Heavy Metals Defense dietary supplement that binds with toxic heavy metals during digestion.

Heavy metals are extremely toxic to human biology. The EPA has strict guidelines governing the allowable concentrations of heavy metals in water.

EPA limits on heavy metals in drinking water

The EPA's own website says that excess arsenic in the water supply may cause "Skin damage or problems with circulatory systems, and may have increased risk of getting cancer." The agency currently allows 0.010 ppm of arsenic in the water.

The EPA limit for lead in drinking water is 0.015 ppm (15 ppb). In my laboratory, I routinely find far higher levels of lead in many nutritional products, natural foods and herbs, by the way.

What's the level of arsenic and lead in the toxic sludge that was released by the EPA? Here's the pathetic part: the EPA isn't saying!

But if any Natural News readers live close enough to this river to collect a sample, I can test it in my lab via ICP-MS and we can nail down the actual concentration in the water.

"Tests show some of the metals have settled to the bottom and would dissolve only if conditions became acidic," reports the Daily Mail.

Well guess what? Rain water is acidic, which means every time it rains, more heavy metals are likely to be dissolved into the water where they may poison the water supply and the local communities that depend on it. Anyone who does not know that rain water is acidic enough to dissolve heavy metals into solution is scientifically uninformed. Rain water can oxidize and eat steel if given enough time.

Is this another mercury cover-up?

The EPA has so far not admitted to the presence of mercury in the toxic sludge flowing down the river. But nearly all gold mining from previous decades involved the heavy use of mercury (because gold sticks to mercury).

I'd be shocked if this heavy metals toxic sludge didn't also contain mercury. The EPA, already known to have covered up the truth at every level, is likely admitting to lead and arsenic in order to avoid admitting to the presence of mercury. Mercury is an extremely dangerous neurotoxin that's still used in dental fillings and flu shot vaccines, by the way.

If someone can get me a water sample from the river (with the orange plume), I can test the water for mercury concentrations down to single-digit parts per billion concentrations.

How to sample river water:

Use a water-tight lab vial if possible. A clean, new plastic water bottle is also sufficient. DO NOT USE GLASS.

Note the date, time, location and environmental conditions of where and when you took the sample. Was it raining? Sunny? Hot? Dry? Humid? What was the apparent color of the water? How fast was it moving?

Protect the sample in a water-tight container. Do not allow it to evaporate, or the concentrations of the elements will change. Contact Natural News to arrange for shipping your sample to us. We will receive the sample, conduct the ICP-MS analysis and publish the results.

Sadly, this is now the only way that We the People can hold the EPA accountable for its disastrous pollution. And how astonishing is it that we even have to resort to such strategies in the first place?

When the citizens have to build their own private science labs to expose the pollution of the EPA, something has gone horribly, grotesquely wrong with government.