News Coverage
Chemical problem widens
STUDY: Food tests turn up perchlorate, raising pressure to find out how much danger it poses.
Published November 29, 2004
Federal officials have found the rocket-fuel chemical perchlorate in lettuce and milk collected from coast to coast, suggesting the chemical is more widespread than previously believed.
The federal Food and Drug Administration found low levels of perchlorate in milk and lettuce nearly everywhere it looked, including Florida, Maryland, Kansas and California. The FDA did not find perchlorate in the vast majority of bottled water tested.
In Central California's Salinas Valley, which bills itself as the salad bowl of the nation, perchlorate was found in four types of lettuce. The study does not identify why perchlorate is in lettuce and milk.
Farm groups and the FDA advised the public to continue eating a balanced diet that includes fruits and vegetables until more is known. Perchlorate in sufficient amounts can disrupt thyroid function, which regulates metabolism, growth and development.
But the FDA said it might seek ways to reduce dietary exposure to perchlorate if small amounts of the chemical ultimately are found to impair health. The chemical is found in the lower Colorado River and in groundwater basins serving Inland residents.
FDA officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
Kevin Mayer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's perchlorate coordinator for the southwest and Pacific region, said the FDA's data show that people are being exposed to perchlorate throughout the nation, not just in communities with tainted drinking water.
'Everybody's Kitchen'
"This brings the perchlorate question into everybody's kitchen," Mayer said by telephone.
The FDA results raise perplexing questions because the chemical was detected in areas not known for perchlorate contamination, such as in lettuce grown in New Jersey and milk sold in Washington.
"What's up with Washington state, and what's up with New Jersey?" Mayer asked.
Scientists are still debating how much perchlorate can impair the mental and physical development of fetuses and newborns, considered the most likely group to suffer ill effects.
A federal panel of experts reviewing the science on perchlorate is expected to release its findings in early January. That report is likely to play a major role in determining how much of the chemical will be allowed in water and possibly food.
The Testing Process
The FDA released test results Friday that found low levels of perchlorate in milk and lettuce. The samples were taken over eight months in five lettuce-producing states, among them California, New Jersey and Florida, and 14 milk-producing states, which included California, Washington, Kansas, Maryland and Georgia.
The tests confirm earlier, more limited tests on lettuce and milk, including tests last year by The Press-Enterprise that found perchlorate in lettuce from Inland grocery stores and crops irrigated with Colorado River water.
The federal agency said its second phase of tests will include more milk samples, along with tomatoes, carrots, cantaloupe and spinach.
The FDA said the broader testing will help determine how much of the rocket-fuel chemical the public is being exposed to, and assess whether human health is at risk.
Nathan DeBoom, chief of staff for the Milk Producers Council in Chino, noted that the FDA described its findings as "exploratory" and not a reflection of perchlorate's distribution in the nation's food supply. He added that the results are "not enough to warrant any kind of change in milk consumption."
Bob Nielsen, chief administrative officer with Tanimura & Antle, a produce grower and shipper based in Salinas, said he could not comment on where the perchlorate might be coming from in the valley. Other growers' representatives could not be reached for comment Monday.
Perchlorate keeps the fire burning in solid-fuel rocket engines. It also has been used in fireworks, road flares and rubber manufacturing. It also has been found in fertilizer from Chile. The biggest perchlorate customers are the defense and space agencies of the U.S. government.
Threat to Water Supplies
Industrial accidents and past handling practices have caused perchlorate to leach into water supplies in at least 22 states. It has tainted the lower Colorado River and some groundwater basins serving Inland residents.
The federal EPA has suggested that 1 part per billion - less than the levels in the Colorado River and many drinking water sources - is a safe level that would protect infants developing in the womb. That level could be used to develop national standards for drinking water and for environmental cleanup.
The National Academy of Sciences is now reviewing the science behind the EPA's health-risk evaluation.
The findings make more critical the resolution of the ongoing debate over how much of the chemical can be safety consumed, Mayer said.
Industry and Department of Defense scientists have argued that the EPA's analysis is overly protective and would spur unnecessary, costly cleanups. They argue that humans can safely consume water with as much as 200 parts per billion.
Determining a safe level for all people, known as a reference dose, is necessary for the EPA to set regulations for drinking water and for the FDA to regulate food, Mayer said. In view of the FDA findings, it's more critical to solve the health-risk debate, he said.
Earlier this year, California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set a public health goal of 6 parts per billion for drinking water. That health goal will guide the state's development of a drinking-water standard for perchlorate.
Allen Hirsch, an agency spokesman, said the FDA's results are unlikely to change the state's health goal for perchlorate. The agency had estimated that people get 60 percent of their perchlorate exposure from water and the rest from food.
"Our first blush reaction (to the FDA) is the data supports the assumptions we made that a large percentage of a person's exposure to perchlorate would come from sources other than water," he said.