EPA Against Limiting Rocket Fuel Ingredient in Tap Water

by The Environmentalist Staff

The EPA has issued a draft regulation ruling that states it will not limit perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel, in drinking water:

[The EPA] will not set a drinking-water safety standard for perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and young children across the nation.

According to a near-final document obtained by The Washington Post, the EPA's "preliminary regulatory determination" -- which was extensively edited by White House officials -- marks the final step in a six-year-old battle between career EPA scientists who advocate regulating the chemical and White House and Pentagon officials who oppose it. The document estimates that up to 16.6 million Americans are exposed to perchlorate at a level many scientists consider unsafe; independent researchers, using federal and state data, put the number at 20 million to 40 million.

The conclusion has drawn fire from both Congress and environmental organizations who cite perchlorate's interference with thyroid function and implications in developmental disabilities in infants and unborn children.

"This is a widespread contamination problem, and to see the Bush EPA just walk away is shocking," Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) stated in response to the decision.

The EPA's draft states that paying for a cleanup would not present "meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public-water systems."

"They have distorted the science to such an extent that they can justify not regulating" the chemical, said Robert Zoeller, a University of Massachusetts professor who specializes in thyroid hormone and brain development and has a copy of the EPA proposal. "Infants and children will continue to be damaged, and that damage is significant."

Zoeller said scientific studies have shown that a small reduction in thyroid function in infants can translate into a loss of IQ and an increase in behavioral and perception problems. "It's absolutely irreversible," he said. "Even small changes in thyroid functions early on have impacts on functioning through high school and even into people's 20s."

A reference to those studies in the EPA's proposal was deleted by OMB officials.

Environmental groups accuse the EPA of succumbing to Pentagon pressure in an effort to both reduce costs and limit the Pentagon's liability exposure... Continued...

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Prescription Drugs found in Drinking Water

by Janet Ritz

Trace amounts of antibiotics, mood stabilizers, anti-convulsants and sex hormones have been found in drinking water across the U.S. following a five month investigation by Associated Press:

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas -- from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit, Michigan, to Louisville, Kentucky.

the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs -- and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen -- in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

There is no federal regulation for testing these drugs in drinking water. In one example, Philadelphia, traces of 56 different drugs were found in the tap water. This included the above mentioned drugs, anti-cholesterol drugs and other pills that Americans take on a regular basis.

As water companies (this includes some bottled waters) and utilities do not routinely filter out these chemicals, which means they are returned to the water systems through the water table, following the reprocessing of waste water from human sources. We are taking these drugs and then depositing the residue into the water table and, ultimately, back into our bodies...

Read the full article