Cape Town, July 23: It is just possible, according to a ministerial answer to a Parliamentary question, that it is the chemicals in your toothpaste that are killing you, not just the pollution in the water you drink.
Buyelwa Sonjica, the Water Affairs Minister told Annette Lovemore, an Eastern Cape MP from the Democratic Alliance, that the levels of trihalomethane (THM) in tap water are “minuscule in relation to the quantity of similar chemicals generally found in ordinary toothpaste”.
Giving a written reply to her question on Thursday, the minister explained that THM is sometimes a by-product of the chlorination process if the water is turbid and contains organic material.
World Health Organisation scientists testing animals have suggested that extended exposure to THM in food and drink could be responsible for forming tumours.
The department has adopted the extremely low levels for THM in water indicated by the WHO, but the minister warned: “The health hazard in toothpaste may be higher than that indicated if levels of THM in drinking water exceed (the SA national standard) THM levels.”
Aluminium in drinking water
Sonjica also told Lovemore (who had put down a stream of questions on water quality) that yet more stringent levels will be applied to the presence of aluminium in drinking water “as a precautionary measure and will be duly enforced by the department”.
She explained that extensive exposure to aluminium “is thought to have Alzheimer disease effects”.
She added: “The department is not convinced that the marginal exceeding of both THM and aluminium in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is proof of any danger to the health of consumers.
“The department will however closely monitor the situation and the DWA team was assured by Nelson Mandela Bay Metro that these challenges are being attended to.
The system will be audited in August 2009 to authenticate the required improvements.”
—Agencies