Nitrate Pollution in Wisconsin
Nitrates are a harmful chemical naturally found in certain foods and all feces. Nitrate consists of one nitrogen atom with three oxygen atoms around it. Although this is a simple formula that seems harmless it has caused large damages to the state of Wisconsin. In Wisconsin there are dangerous levels of nitrate in the large majority of water. These nitrates ended up in the water from dog feces as well as from other animals plus the mass farms in the state that put nitrates in the water through runoff. These heightened levels of nitrate have detrimental effects on the human body with the worst of it being for the children in the form of blue baby syndrome. Blue baby syndrome occurs when babies don't have enough oxygen in their blood to sustain them causing them to turn a shade of blue or gray; this intern causes the baby to slowly suffocate leading to a slow and painful death. Adults on the other hand have similar life threatening diseases such as heightened risk thyroid disease, colon cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Thyroid disease is a failure of the thyroid to produce the necessary hormones to maintain the body in homeostasis. Colin cancer is the most noticeable of the effects from heightened levels of nitrate which can cause changes in bowel movements as well as bowel consistency.