Officials Blast EPA on Perchlorate Standards
Warning that babies are especially vulnerable, a federal panel of scientists has lambasted the Environmental Protection Agency's health goal for a toxic chemical that has widely contaminated drinking water and foods, particularly in Southern California.
The EPA's new goal for perchlorate, an ingredient of solid rocket fuel, "is not supported by the underlying science and can result in exposures that pose neurodevelopmental risks in early life," wrote Melanie Marty of California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, who chairs the EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee.
The letter from the committee of 26 scientists, sent to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson on March 8, warned the agency that it is putting babies at unnecessary risk of neurological damage. The EPA's interim goal for perchlorate, announced in January, "does not protect infants and should be lowered," the scientists said in their letter.
It is the second time in less than two months that an EPA scientific advisory panel has criticized the Bush administration for proposing a standard or guideline for a pollutant that would not adequately protect public health.
Most perchlorate contamination comes from military bases and aerospace plants. In California, at least 350 water wells have been contaminated by perchlorate, largely in the Los Angeles Basin, according to the Department of Health Services, and it has also tainted supplies in about 40 other states.
There is no current enforceable national standard for perchlorate in drinking water. But six weeks ago, the EPA set an interim goal of 24.5 parts per billion. The idea was to guide cleanup of industrial and Pentagon waste sites and contaminated drinking water until the federal agency decides on a standard that drinking water must meet.
California recently proposed a much tighter goal of 6 ppb, and on Monday, Massachusetts proposed a standard of 2 ppb. California's goal, set by Marty's agency, is not enforceable because the state Department of Health Services has not yet set a drinking water standard.
In animal studies, perchlorate has been shown to disrupt thyroid hormones. Low thyroid hormone levels can obstruct the brain development of fetuses and young children, causing subtle reductions in their intelligence and other mental abilities.
EPA officials were unavailable Wednesday for comment on the letter.
