EWG staffers put our heads together to come up with this list of bad news environmental stories of the last decade that people might have missed. But there were plenty of big stories that hardly anyone could have missed, such as climate change. What's on your list of the biggest environmental stories of the last 10 years?

1. Secret Gas Drilling Chemical Almost Kills Colorado Nurse
Doctors ran into a medical mystery -- and a stone wall from industry -- when they tried to find what was in a gas drilling chemical that nearly killed a Colorado nurse. Aren't you glad that Congress exempted these "fracking" chemicals from regulation under the Safe Water Drinking Act?

2. Intersex Fish Turn Up All Over
Are you a boy or are you a girl? That's the question that scientists are asking as they study the organs of supposedly male fish from coast to coast and find eggs in many of them. The chief suspects: endocrine-disrupting pollutants that even in tiny amounts can mimic hormones and affect sexual development.

3. Prescription Drugs in Your Drinking Water
Take a swallow and call me in the morning. Antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - they've all turned up in tests of drinking water around the country. Could there be health risks from decades of drinking water laced with combinations of potent drugs?

4. And Rocket Fuel, Too
Perchlorate -- the stuff is used in rocket fuel and explosives and turns up not just in water but also in milk, lettuce, other foods - and in our bodies. It's been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and infants. The EPA is reconsidering its earlier decision not to regulate it in water. Stand by.

5. Ethanol -- Not Just Bad Energy Policy
There are a lot of reasons to question the drive for biofuels, especially corn-based ethanol, but there has been much less attention paid to what it means for air pollution and health. For people who like to breathe clean air, the balance doesn't look promising.

6. Non-stick, No-Stain and No-Good
They were the miracle products that were supposed to make life easier - keeping spills from staining our couches and making it easy to clean our pots without scrubbing -- until it all went sour. Chemicals in the original Teflon and now off-the-market Scotchgard were linked to cancer and developmental problems. They have a way of polluting everything and they refuse to go away.

7. Monsanto Owns Corn (and also soybeans)
80% of the corn and 95% percent of the soybeans grown in America contain genes inserted by Monsanto scientists, and the company writes tough - and secret - licensing agreements to maintain control and lock out competitors. Now the Justice Department and some states are thinking these practices might violate anti-trust laws. Turnips, anyone?

8. Occupational Hazard: Microwave Popcorn
This fun food turned to be no fun for people who make it. A strange lung malady that sickened workers in plants that make microwave popcorn was traced to a widely used butter flavoring. And one popcorn-crazy consumer was felled, too. It took a while, but OSHA finally took a look, and the stuff is being phased out.

9. Dead (Zone) on Arrival
In the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere, vast expanses of ocean have been turned into biological deserts as fertilizer runoff from farms washes downstream and nourish runaway algae growth, which deplete most of the oxygen when the tiny organisms die and decompose. The Gulf dead zone has more than doubled in size since the 1980s - accelerated by the boom in crops grown to make biofuels. In 2009, it was smaller than predicted, but more intense, in 2009.

10. The (Not So) Great Pacific Trash Gyre
It's hard to spot from the water or even from space, but an estimated 3.5 million tons of mostly plastic trash from all over the world floats just below the surface of the Pacific, swirling slowly around in an area of circular currents twice the size of Texas. It's devastating to birds and sea creatures that think the plastic bits are food. It's time to stop adding to the mess - and then see if there's any way to clean it up.

What stories top your list of the decade's biggest environmental news??

By Alex Formuzis, EWG Director of Communications

Making good on Administrator Lisa Jackson's confirmation promise, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving ahead with its deliberations on whether to impose the first national limits on drinking water contamination by perchlorate, the main component of solid rocket fuel.

The EPA has reported finding perchlorate, a potent thyroid toxin, in public water systems in 28 states and territories. Researchers have also detected perchlorate in infant formula, breast milk and produce. EWG's own tests have identified significant perchlorate contamination in nearly a fifth of lettuce samples grown in Southern California and Arizona.

Surprise! Industry opposes stronger regs
The defense and aerospace communities have lobbied against legal limits on perchlorate contamination in drinking water, fearing that regulation would require them to mount clean-ups at Cold-War era rocket and missile testing sites and storage facilities where tons of the chemical were spilled.

"We hope the Obama EPA will reverse the harmful perchlorate decisions made under the previous administration," said Anila Jacob, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Scientist with EWG.

"Scientists have established that even very small amounts of perchlorate can disrupt thyroid hormone production that is critical to brain and neurological development. This makes the chemical particularly dangerous to the fetus, infants, and children."

Perchlorate: Not so healthy
In comments submitted to EPA on September 18, EWG argued that perchlorate "contaminates drinking water supplies nationwide at levels of concern for human health, providing the agency with a meaningful opportunity for human health risk reduction through a national primary drinking water rule."

Jacob is co-author of several papers on the public health threat of perchlorate, among them a January 2008 analysis that found that the average 2-year-old would be exposed to more than half the EPA's safe dose of perchlorate from food. Drinking perchlorate-tainted tap water could push the toddler's daily consumption to unsafe levels, the EWG study concluded.

Last October, at the urging of the Pentagon and defense and aerospace industry officials, the Bush administration decided against regulating perchlorate water contamination. The move caused an outcry from scientists, medical experts and children's health advocates.

EPA's Lisa Jackson promised to act
During her confirmation hearing last January, Jackson pledged that she would act "immediately" to protect pregnant women and children from perchlorate pollution.

On Aug. 5, Jackson announced that EPA would reevaluate the safety of perchlorate in drinking water, with "special emphasis" on the chemical's impact on children's development. She said the review would consider regulating perchlorate in light of "the fact that infants and children consume more water per body weight than do adults." Previous EPA assessments appeared to make little or no distinction between water consumption patterns of adults and children.

Time will tell if EPA's actions lead to stronger regulation
Now that the public comment period is completed, EPA officials say their next move is to determine whether to regulate perchlorate pollution under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974. If they choose to regulate, the EPA must draft a proposal for a national drinking water standard, setting the maximum legal limit on the amount of perchlorate in drinking water produced by municipal water utilities. If such a rule were finalized, water utilities across the U.S. would be required to test their output and meet the new legal limit for perchlorate contamination.

The tortuous rule-making process could take many months. Still, the Obama administration's commitment to tackling the perchlorate issue is a marked improvement from the previous administration's refusal to consider the subtle public heath implications of the widespread problem.

"The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 100 percent of the U.S. population has been exposed to perchlorate," Jacob said. "Strict mandatory regulations on perchlorate in drinking water would go a long way toward lowering the number of people, particularly children, exposed to dangerous concentrations of this chemical."

Interested in the history of perchlorate health effects research? Great news, we created a timeline.

At EWG, we work to provide useful, science-based information to help you safeguard your family from environmental hazards. We also work to reform federal policy on toxic chemicals so that the earth is a cleaner, safer place for us all.

So please join us in celebration of Earth Day by changing how you live - a little or a lot, then by letting the government know that you want better protection from chemical pollution.

Make a personal change

• Switch to earth-friendly lightbulbs. Start with our Green Lighting Guide to identify which energy-efficient bulbs have the least mercury, where in your home they should go and how to use them safely.


• Eat organic when you can. Put our Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in your wallet (now!) so you can eat organic without breaking the bank.


• Do that dusting. Pets and young children are the most vulnerable to dust-bound pollutants, but cleaning your home is free, easy, and everyone benefits from cleaner indoor air.

• Ask the Energy Star program to reduce mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs. The program requirements lag behind industry advancements; Energy Star should lead, not follow. Go ahead, email the Energy Star program director.


• Tell the EPA to set a truly health-protective safety standard for perchlorate in drinking water. Perchlorate is known to interfere with thyroid hormones essential for brain development, so it poses particular risks to the fetus, infants and young children. Click here to send your message to the EPA. Send your message to Administrator Lisa Jackson now.

Earlier this month, we daylighted a CDC report that showed perchlorate contamination in infant formula. Not surprisingly, we received quite a few questions about formula that week, so we put these recomendations together to supplement our perchlorate report FAQ.

Breast milk is best, but most families use formula to supplement or replace it when needed. If you use formula, here are some tips for choosing and using the ones that are safest for baby.

Infants need breast milk or formula.
Information about contaminants in formula and water can be scary, but remember that infants less than 1 year old should not be fed straight cow milk, and other drinks might not meet their complex nutritional needs. Breast milk and formula are the best foods for infants.

Choose powdered.
A toxic chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA) can leach from the lining of metal cans and lids. Liquid formulas have higher levels, so powdered is a better bet. If your pediatrician recommends liquid formula, choose the types sold in plastic containers and avoid ready-to-eat.

Use soy formula only if medically necessary.
The American Association of Pediatricians recommends that soy formula use be limited to infants who need it for medical reasons.

There are longstanding concerns that natural plant estrogens in soy formula may affect the developing baby's body. There is not enough research to make a solid conclusion, but in the meantime we recommend you limit soy formula use when possible.

Use filtered water.
Both bottled and tap water can contain contaminants that are toxic for babies whose sole or main source of food is formula. Examples are fluoride, lead and perchlorate. If you have fluoride, lead or perchlorate in your water, use a reverse osmosis filter. The American Dental Association recommends making formula without fluoridated water.

Avoid bottled water - including 'infant' water - because contaminants are not known. For the safest tap water, contact your local drinking water supplier to identify contaminants, then choose the most effective filter for them.

Choose glass or BPA-free plastic bottles.
Plastic bottles can leach a toxic chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA) into formula. Most companies sell non-BPA plastic. Look for details on packaging or from the manufacturer.

Always avoid

• Unfiltered water when reconstituting formula.
• Ready-to-eat liquid formulas in metal cans.
• Old or used plastic baby bottles; they are more likely to contain and leach BPA.

Sun!

Finally!

The kid and husband were at a cycling race, so Saber the Wonder Dog and I drove out to the Shenandoah Valley and hit the trail that runs along the waterfalls. Last week's rains were crashing down the rocks, and the spray smelled fresh and cool.

But nobody was drinking out of those seemingly pristine pools. I'd lugged a bottle of water from home, and so had the Boy Scouts, the exchange students, the families and toddlers, the dog walkers and the trout fishermen.

Just because it occurs naturally, doesn't mean it's safe
Nothing in the water that wasn't natural. But we all knew that included bear scat, deer scat, fox scat, raccoon scat, dead crawfish and eau de possum. (Saber the W.D.'s fave.) And of course, those unforgettable little giardia bombs.

Which got me to thinking about some of the reactions to our perchlorate report, published last week. Our report highlighted a recent study by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who had found perchlorate, a component of solid rocket fuel and a thyroid toxin, in all 15 brands of powdered infant formula tested. The most popular types of formula, made with cow's milk, were also the most contaminated, according to the study.

After we published our analysis of the CDC study, a number of people posted dismissive comments arguing that perchlorate occurs in nature and suggesting that concerns about it were exaggerated.

True enough, there's a baseline level of perchlorate in the earth - as the CDC scientists duly noted. But there's a heck of a lot more perchlorate in the water and soil around old rocket launch sites and chemical-making and storage locations. The CDC report pointed out, for instance, that much contamination found in certain California wells came from the Colorado River and originated at a former perchlorate manufacturing facility in Nevada.

The Colorado, by the way, is a source of drinking water for something like 25 million people and irrigation water for vast farm acreage.

Anyhow, however an impurity gets into source water, we don't drink source water, and we sure don't let our kids drink it. We routinely treat our municipal water, and some of us filter our tap water to take out perchlorate, along with other nasties like lead and arsenic.

Which, of course, occur in nature. And are not to be trifled with.

Lead occurs naturally, too
(According to the Environmental Protection Agency Journal, the Romans -- early globalists -- knew that lead mining and smelting were poisonous and banished these noxious activities to the provinces, to be carried out by slaves and other expendables. But they found lead plates and goblets too convenient to give up, so they ignored the subtle symptoms of trace lead toxicity, among them intelligence deficits, mental illness and reproductive problems.)

What have we learned?
Haven't we learned a thing or two over the last couple of millenia? Lead's neurotoxicity is well established. There is still much to study about the effects of trace perchlorate. But scientists have established that it can impair production of thyroid hormones, which are essential for brain development in early life and for good health in later life.

We know enough, in other words, not to gamble on our kids' health.

The solution to perchlorate pollution is federal regulation and a serious clean-up financed by the defense and aerospace industries that spilled the stuff in the first place. What we don't need to do is delude ourselves.

I wade in those sparkling pools. So do my kid and my husband, when not cycling or ice-climbing. And of course, Saber the W.D. noses in.

But natural or not, we don't drink the water.

You don't need to be a parent to know that moms and dads have a lot to worry about--anything from their kids' healthy growth and development to the friends they choose and those math homework assignments. Now, parents need to add one more thing to the list: the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate.

What - and where - is perchlorate?
Perchlorate is a thyroid hormone disruptor that contaminates water supplies of millions of Americans in 28 states and territories. The chemical is also in food: our analysis of data from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that three quarters of the most commonly consumed foods and beverages contain traces of perchlorate. Many Americans are getting a double perchlorate hit - from both food and water. At particular risk are babies in the womb and newborn infants; normal brain development depends on adequate levels of thyroid hormone.

CDC scientists study powdered infant formulas
Now we have another piece of the news for you. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found perchlorate in powdered infant formula. The study found that two most contaminated brands, made from cow's milk, accounted for 87 percent of the U.S. powdered formula market in 2000.

These findings raise new concerns about the rocket fuel ingredient, found in most of us. The CDC has warned that reconstituting cow's milk/lactose formula with water contaminated with perchlorate would cause over half the infants consuming the mix to exceed the so-called "safe" dose set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And the "safe" level is not very protective of public health to begin with.

We need a strong federal safe drinking water standard for perchlorate
This study presents more proof that what we need is a federal standard that would protect the public from this potent chemical. At her confirmation hearing, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson pledged that she would act "immediately" to reduce perchlorate contamination in drinking water.

Since then, EWG has called on Jackson to fulfill that promise, but so far the agency has not made public a plan of action. The CDC study provides some of the strongest evidence that it is time for EPA to change Bush era perchlorate policies that protect polluters and defense contractors and set a stringent, mandatory standard that protects the health of pregnant women, infants and other vulnerable populations.

What you can do
Until that happens, you can limit the exposure to perchlorate in water you drink by using a good filtration system. The best first step is to call your local water utility or look on its website and see if it found perchlorate in the water you are drinking.

Also, you can write to EPA officials and ask them to take action - like they said they would.

Our new year's resolution: build on the accomplishments of 2008 to make 2009 the year we turn the corner on crucial environmental issues facing our society. We scored breakthroughs on a range of problems last year. Among them:

Advancing the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act.
EWG's work on toxic chemicals spurred the reintroduction of the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act and its requirement of mandatory biomonitoring of industrial chemicals in people. EWG briefed Congressional staff members on the legislation, that aims to replace the weak Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. In the next Congress, EWG plans to organize briefings and push for hearings and passage of the bill.

Progressing toward a ban of toxic plastic chemical BPA.
On October 31, the Science Board of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a stinging rebuke to the agency and embraced EWG arguments that bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin may be a threat to human health. The panel forced FDA to retreat from its stance that trace levels of BPA are safe in food packaging, including infant formula cans and baby bottles. EWG scientists testified, wrote comments and served on the expert panel for the Science Board.

In September, the National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program (NTP)declared that BPA, shown in laboratory tests to disrupt the endocrine system, may alter brain development, cause behavioral problems and damage the prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young children.

In 2009, EWG will work with Congressional leaders and the Obama administration to press for a federal ban of BPA in food packaging and other products that expose children and pregnant women to the chemical.

With strong advocacy by EWG's California office, the California assembly office came close to passing the first state-level BPA ban. In 2009, 13 state legislatures are expected to consider similar measures.

Blowing the whistle on FDA plan to push mercury-laced seafood.
On December 12, the Environmental Working Group made public internal government documents disclosing the Food and Drug Administration's secret plans to reverse federal warnings that pregnant women and children limit their fish intake to avoid mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to the fetus and infants. EWG obtained both the FDA plan, stamped "CLOSE HOLD," and memos by senior Environmental Protection Agency scientists attacking FDA's rationale. The Washington Post broke the story, and other national stories followed.

Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and sharp. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., denounced FDA: "Now, in the administration's 11th hour, they are quietly trying to water down advisories for women and children about the dangers of mercury in fish, disregarding sound science on this issue....This backroom bouquet for special interests should be stopped in its tracks. If they slip this through, I will work with the incoming Obama Administration to restore science-based decisions on mercury."