The state of California, responding to a petition from EWG and other groups, is going to re-evaluate the health effects of perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in rocket fuel and a potent thyroid toxin. The Office of Environmental Hazard Assessment agreed they should look at new evidence that wasn't available in 2004, when they set a Public Health Goal of 6 parts per billion in drinking water, which the state has since adopted as a drinking water standard. EWG's March 2007 analysis of a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Boston University found that Boston-area infants were receiving twice as much perchlorate as the federal government's profoundly inadequate safety standard. We hope the new evidence convinces California to join Massachusetts by setting a new drinking water standard of 1 ppb or lower.
