ABOUT
Smart discussion of the latest science and news on toxins in your food, water, and air, and what government agencies should be doing to protect public health. Written by EWG staff.
DONATE TO EWG!
Help us protect your health and environment! Please donate $5 to EWG today.
GET EWG'S TIPS & ACTION ALERTS
Sign Up here to receive email updates and tips from EWG and stay informed on the issues that matter most to you.
ENVIROBLOG VIA EMAIL
If you ask a caveman a chemistry question...
Fluoride in your water: How much is too much?
Borax: Not the green alternative it's cracked up to be
Bottled Water Industry to EWG: Shut Up!
SEARCH ENVIROBLOG
FEATURED
Support the 2010 Safe Cosmetics Act. It's Urgent.
Why, oh why is there plastic in my aluminum water bottle?
Cell phone radiation series - Part 2: 8 Ways to reduce your exposure
Test Your Knowledge of Cosmetics Safety: 8 Myths Debunked
EWG's Tips for Parents: The Series
EWG's Tips to avoid BPA exposure
EWG on TV
Cutting the Pork from U.S. Farm Bill
Sunscreen safety & DC drinking water
Perchlorate in people, kids' personal care products & plastics, and sunscreen
BPA in baby formula & safe cosmetics
What can I do about fluoride in my water?
What is new carpet treated with? What can I do?
Are stainless steel water bottles safe?
Is mineral-based makeup safer?
PEOPLE TALKING TOXICS
TALK TO US
Did we miss something? Email Enviroblog.
« Senate Hearing Focuses on EWG's Chromium-6 Study | Main | Stewart to Pickens: "Is it horribly unsafe, is that what this fracking is?" »
EPA (Finally) Regulates Rocket Fuel in Tap Water
By LeeAnn Brown, EWG Press Associate
Perchlorate, a common ingredient in rocket fuel and a potent thyroid toxin, will be regulated in drinking water, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced yesterday (Feb. 2).
The agency also said it would develop legal limits for a group of 16 other toxic chemicals found in drinking water. Currently, EPA regulates about 90 known water contaminants.
A Long Time Coming
Environmental Working Group has advocated federal regulation of perchlorate since its 2001 investigation of perchlorate contamination in California's drinking water. In 2009, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found perchlorate in 15 top-selling brands of infant formula, EWG urged the Obama administration to take action to regulate the chemical, which EPA estimates to be in the drinking water supplied to up to 17 million Americans.
Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG, welcomed EPA's increasing efforts to safeguard our drinking water:
"Since there is no question about the low-dose toxicity of perchlorate, it's time for Americans to stop drinking rocket fuel. We will continue to be exposed to perchlorate in food from industrial, agricultural and natural sources, so there need to be robust safeguards to keep contamination in water from further endangering public health."
Federal scientists have documented health risks from the rocket fuel component for years. A 2006 CDC survey suggested that perchlorate affected thyroid hormone levels in women, but the Bush administration decided not to regulate it after strenuous lobbying by the defense and aerospace industries, which hoped to avoid expensive cleanups. In 2008, three EPA scientific advisory panels objected to that decision, which was reversed by yesterday's announcement.
Taking action for cleaner drinking water
Last month, California officials proposed to lower the state's public health goal for perchlorate in tap water from 6 parts per billion to 1 part per billion in order to take into account the greater vulnerability of infants. Perchlorate exposure can interfere with normal brain development, according to recent research.
EPA's Jackson has made cleaning up drinking water a top priority for her agency. In an interview with CNN, Jackson said,
"The aim is to find solutions that meet the health and economic needs of communities across the country more effectively than the current approach."
A 2009 analysis by EWG of the nation's drinking water found 315 pollutants in water, 202 of which have no legal limit in tap water.
Get EWG's history of perchlorate health effects research here.
It reminds me what a lottery our lives are. I had never heard of perchlorate, never mind that I might have been imbibing it. It also seems farcical that regulation was avoided because many of those responsible might be held .. er .. responsible for (expensive) clean ups of their own waste products.
Wow. Super. Even more junk in our drinking water. Stuff like this makes me glad I drink, cook with, and shower in filtered water.
Perchlorate is actually a toxic chemical in a high concentration. It becomes acidic when it is combine with water.
However, in small amounts I think our body can be able to sustain it for as long as it doesn't reach beyond the maximum toxicity level that a certain body can adopt because if it does then it can be fatal to one's health.
While were on the subject of EPA, drinking water and thyroid problems; let's ban
fluoride, and bromide and perchlorate from all human contact. These are known industrial halides
that take the place of iodine/iodide in the thyroid. Ban is the word for all this unatural
junk being placed in our diet. Iodine is the only good halide and is a detoxicant to
remove all these poisons however it is discouraged. Might this have something to do
with all the drugs being sold to cure the symptoms of iodine deficiency and in part caused
by all this poison we are being fed. How many people do you know who take their synthroid everyday? Our grandparents never had these problems.