CNN News: 水中致癌物新物質

Could an element commonly found in Americans` tap water caused cancer? A nonprofit environmental group is sounding the alarm about something called chromium-6. The U.S. government says high levels of it in the air can be carcinogenic, meaning they can cause cancer. But it`s not known yet if or how much chromium-6 in drinking water could be harmful.

一種常見于美國自來水中的元素引發(fā)癌癥嗎?一個非營利環(huán)保組織對此元素chromium-6敲響了警鐘。美國政府表示空氣中高濃度的此元素可導致癌癥。但是，尚不清楚，在引用水中，chromium-6的致害濃度。

Still, the Environmental Working Group, an organization that says it`s dedicated to protecting human health, found chromium-6 in almost 90 percent of the water systems at sample across the U.S. It`s bringing additional scrutiny to the U.S. water supply following the recent discovery of high levels of lead in the water of Flint, Michigan.

環(huán)境工作組織，旨在保護人類健康。此組織發(fā)現，在美國收集的飲用水樣本中，90%存在chromium-6。由于近期美國密歇根州弗林特市飲用水中鉛含量超標，因此加美國供水系統(tǒng)加大了審查力度。

SUBTITLE: What is chromium-6?

chromium-6是什么?

Chromium-6 is a heavy metal and a carcinogen. It`s rarely found in nature. Instead, it`s created by various industrial processes.

chromium-6是一種重金屬，同時也是一種致癌物質。自然界中很少存在，而主要于各種工業(yè)過程中產生。

SUBTITLE: It`s created by various industrial processes such as welding. And also used in many manufacturing processes, like tanning leather and producing stainless steel.

字幕：它產生于焊接等各種工業(yè)過程。也用于許多生產過程,如鞣制皮革和生產不銹鋼。

There are reports that chromium-6 is in the drinking water of hundreds of millions of Americans. However, health authorities don`t know exactly what level of chromium-6 might pose heath problems. They do know that when they put chromium in the drinking water of rats and mice, that that level of chromium caused cancer.

據報道，數百萬美國公民的飲用水中，都存在chromium-6。但是官方尚不清楚，chromium-6對人類構成健康威脅的含量水平。也不知道何時在老鼠的飲用水中，添加了導致其癌癥的chromium-6的含量。

Scientists who study chromium-6 say they`re concerned about even very low levels of exposure to chromium-6 when it`s a child or an infant or developing fetus.

研究chromium-6的科學家擔心，即使chromium-6含量很低，也會影響兒童、嬰兒或胎兒的健康發(fā)育。