[CPEO-MEF] Toxin at Lockheed site targeted

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Colorado
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Toxin at Lockheed site targeted
Regulators seek to lower limit of
By Rachel Brand And Roger Fillion
November 1, 2003

State health regulators proposed slashing the amount of a cancer-causing
chemical that Lockheed Martin Corp. can discharge in Jefferson County.

The decision by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
has implications for Denver-area supplies of drinking water - water used
by hundreds of thousands of metro residents.

On Friday, the department issued a proposed permit lowering by more than
1,000 times the levels of n-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) allowed in
treated wastewater.

The new standard of 0.00069 parts per billion is in line with
Environmental Protection Agency recommendations. The older standard of
0.7 parts per billion was permissible by the state, which can override
EPA recommendations.

NDMA is a breakdown product of rocket fuel and can be toxic even in
microscopic amounts, causing liver cancer in drinking water
concentrations of 0.07 parts per billion, according to the EPA.

"It is one of the most potent carcinogens that we know about," said Bob
Benson, a toxicologist with the EPA drinking water program.

The chemical is so poisonous, he added, that tests don't exist to
measure NDMA in drinking water down to levels that the EPA is
comfortable with.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_2393883,00.html

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