Sometimes it seems like we're completely surrounded by carcinogens. So many products in our home that we have felt safe in using all our lives, are now under scrutiny as potential health hazards.
NDMA is a possible carcinogen contaminating our water supplies.
"William Mitch and colleagues note that scientists have known that NDMA and other nitrosamines can form in small amounts during the disinfection of wastewater and water with chloramine. Although nitrosamines are found in a wide variety of sources — including processed meats and tobacco smoke — scientists know little about their precursors in water."
NDMA and other nitrosamines are formed with the assistance of quaternary amines, which are found in some cleaning supplies.
While sewage treatment plants do remove some of the quaternary amines that form NDMA, the sewage treatment plants may not be able to remove all of them, and the remaining quaternary amines pose a potential health hazard.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/acs-hds052610.php