Toxic Nation | Pollution. It's In You.

Health Canada will collect samples from 60 water-treatment plants and distribution systems across the country to test for potential contaminants. The tests are being done as a precaution over concerns raised by the scientific community about contaminants in tap water which may be linked to increased risk of cancer and other health issues.

The tests will focus on the following:

According to a new study done by the University of Rochester’s Environmental Health Sciences Center in New York, Bisphenol A, the controversial hormone disruptor classified toxic by the federal government last fall and banned from baby bottles across the country, may linger in the human body longer than originally believed.

A study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has linked a genital defect in babies with the exposure of mothers to hairspray in the workplace. Study results indicate that exposure to hairspray may double the risk of children being born with hypospadias, a condition where the urinary tract is found away from the penis.

The study involved interviews of 470 women with babies born with hypospadias, and the same number of women with children that did not have the birth defect. All women gave birth between 1997 and 1998.