This process is aided when the soil is sandy or gravel-like and particularly if the water table is shallow. Latest developments Women's prison provides bottled water for inmates Inmates and staff at California Institution for Women are drinking bottled water because of excessive nitrates in well water piped to the facility, prison officials said. Babies are highly susceptible to acute nitrate poisoning due to certain bacteria that resides in their maturing digestive systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Nitrite then reacts with oxygen-carrying hemoglobin to form methemoglobin, which cannot carry oxygen. The amount of oxygen circulating in the body gradually decreases causing a slow suffocation.
Pregnant women are also susceptible.
The obvious symptoms of methemoglobinemia are a bluish color of the skin around the eyes and mouth. If symptoms appear, health authorities suggest taking the patient to an emergency room immediately where a simple treatment can be obtained. As the baby's digestive system develops at about three months old, stomach acid begins killing off the converting bacteria, and at six months, the system is fully developed and free of the converting bacteria. In children and adults, nitrate is absorbed and excreted routinely. Potential danger to adults , animals Most nitrates adults consume stem from raw and cooked vegetables in the diet, which are readily absorbed and excreted.