TikTok user Donna P has refuted criticism she received after posting a video showing her leaping into the Hudson River, responding that the river is not as polluted now as it was several decades ago.
She referred to a statement from the state of New York's Department of Environmental Conservation.
"Swallowing a few mouthfuls of river water does not significantly expose a person to these pollutants", she noted, citing the agency's website, claiming in the post's caption that she is "fine" and will anyway be seeing a doctor soon for her "annual check up".
According to the New York agency's website, you can "generally" swim in the Hudson, although there are other more urgent dangers, including "other sites, debris, tidal currents, and boat traffic". The agency also warned that, despite an improvement in the quality of the water since the 1960s, potentially harmful bacteria lives there due to toxic leftovers.
Donna P. received backlash for a video of her leaping from a boat into the waters of the Hudson River, with the iconic Statue of Liberty in the background, which she captioned "swimming with lady liberty". Netizens warned that she could receive "chemical burns" and suggested that swimming in the Hudson was a "death sentence".
