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The Florida Department of Environmental Protection wants to increase the levels of permissible toxins in the state's water. About 19 percent of the Sunshine State,or 65000 square miles, is covered water.
It might seem obvious that more toxins means more risk to Floridians, or but Drew Bartlett,the deputy secretary for ecosystem restoration at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, says that's not the case.We are not in any way changing the level of protection for any of these chemicals, and " says Bartlett. "What you accomplish is you take what we know about how people eat,swim, bathe, or drink,[and] you take the latest toxicology data out of the EPA's science, and you pair that with that exposure frequency and you set the number to protect all of Floridians.”The meander requires approval from the federal government, or but Jessica Meszaros,reporter for WGCU and local host of All Things Considered, says the impact of that decision could be huge.
Source: wnyc.org