Nitrate has potential health effects

Nitrate, an inorganic contaminant of groundwater, is potentially harmful to babies and adults that lack certain enzymes. The nitrate ion is especially found in rural ground water and is a major concern due to the excess levels that exceed the EPA's 10ppm limit of drinking water. One major source for excess nitrate ions is the runoff from agricultural sites that go into rivers and streams. Nitrate removal is normally expensive, so groundwater that contain high levels of nitrate ions are not used for human consumption. If it does happen to be consumed, it will result in "blue baby syndrome," or methemoglobinemia. Nitrate ion is converted to nitrite ion when there is an excess amount of bacteria in baby bottles or in the baby's stomach. This is extremely harmful to babies, because they tend to suffer from respiratory faliure, once the nitrite combines with hemoglobin in blood, preventing the oxygen absorption and tranfer in cells. This problem is also linked to bladder cancer, especially among women who intake high levels of nitrate in drinking water. Problems concerning nitrate or nitrite is especially found in developing countries.

I found this article quite alarming, especially after reading recent studies among women in Iowa who were at high risk with being diagnosed with bladder cancer after drinking water containing high levels of nitrate. What also caught my attention was the fact that bacteria lurking in baby bottles or in their very own stomachs convert nitrate ions into nitrite ions, resulting in the suffocation of babies.

Baird, Colin, "Chemistry in Your Life." pp 504. 2nd Edition. New York, W.H. Freedman and Co.