[CPEO-MEF] Perchlorate in Salinas lettuce, too.

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[Newspapers across the country have been reporting about the Food and 
Drug Administration's unexpected broad findings of perchlorate in milk 
and produce. The agricultural commissioner quoted below was not along in 
his surprise. These findings should prompt a whole new phase of 
detective work to find out where the perchlorate is coming from, even if 
it turns out that exposure concentrations are below current legal 
standards. - LS]


Lettuce has trace of unsafe chemical
Survey of valley reveals perchlorate

By VICTOR CALDERON
The Salinas Californian
December 1, 2004

A survey conducted between December 2003 and August by the U.S. Food and 
Drug Administration found traces of perchlorate, a toxic rocket-fuel 
chemical, in samples of Salinas Valley lettuce. The FDA has not 
determined any immediate health risk and does not advise consumers to 
alter their eating habits. The study can be found at 
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ clo4data.html.

Traces of a hazardous chemical have been found in lettuce grown in the 
Salinas Valley, according to a survey conducted between December 2003 
and August by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The survey, released Friday, says four types of lettuce -- green leaf, 
iceberg, red leaf and romaine -- were found to have amounts of 
perchlorate, a primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant. The 
chemical also is used in fireworks, leather tanning and the manufacture 
of paint and enamel, among other things.

To discover how much perchlorate might be absorbed into food from 
contaminated irrigation water, the FDA undertook the survey, finding 
levels ranging from 1 part per billion (ppb) in green leaf lettuce to 
29.6 ppb in iceberg lettuce.

…

"These numbers are very surprising to me," said Bob Roach, assistant 
agricultural commissioner for Monterey County.

Roach, whose department assisted the FDA in obtaining samples, said the 
findings are unexpected because there are no known sources of 
perchlorate contamination in Monterey County.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.californianonline.com/news/stories/20041130/localnews/1671771.html 


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org


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