Second Thoughts on a Chemical: In Water, How Much Is Too Much?

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

NEW YORK TIMES
Second Thoughts on a Chemical: In Water, How Much Is Too Much?
By Jennifer 8. Lee
Published: March 2, 2004

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- The Defense Department and the Environmental
Protection Agency have squared off in a continuing dispute over the
danger from a widespread contaminant of groundwater. Billions of dollars
in cleanup costs are at stake.

The contaminant is ammonium perchlorate, an additive that NASA and the
Pentagon used for rocket fuel and munitions starting in the 1950's. For
disposal, perchlorate was often dissolved in water and poured on the
ground because officials did not consider low levels hazardous for
people. Perchlorate remains in use and is unregulated.

Traces of perchlorate have been found in groundwater from California to
Maryland. It has been detected in the Colorado River, which provides
water to more than 15 million people in the Southwest. In addition, low
levels have been found in some lettuce samples and milk around the
country, the Food and Drug Administration said. According to Pentagon
documents, perchlorate was used in 49 states, with contamination found
in 30; Vermont appears to be the sole state where it was not used.

Perchlorate has medical and military uses. It is used to treat Graves'
disease, the thyroid disorder, because it suppresses certain hormones.

Officials and scientists dispute whether the amounts in groundwater,
usually 4 to 100 parts per billion, are enough to suppress hormone
levels in people, which fluctuate slightly anyway.

Scientists at the E.P.A. say that although variations may have few
effects on healthy adults, they may hurt the development of fetuses and
young children.

A study by the Arizona Department of Health Services found that newborns
in Yuma, which obtains its water from the perchlorate-contaminated
Colorado River at levels of about five parts per billion, were more
likely to have abnormal thyroid functions than the babies who were born
in Flagstaff, which does not have such water.

The environmental agency's findings on perchlorate have come under
vigorous attack from the Pentagon, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the weapons industry.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/02/science/earth/02FUEL.html?ex=1078808400&en=d7141691e6f3be8a&ei=5062

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