Defense Environment Alert, Staff
Published January 9, 2007
Environmentalists are expected to meet with California officials this week to continue pressing the state to tighten its public health goal (PHG) for perchlorate in light of findings from federal researchers showing over one-third of women may be at risk for health impacts from exposure to the chemical.
The pressure comes as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced legislation Jan. 4 calling on EPA to set a perchlorate health advisory level and continue monitoring the chemical in drinking water as an interim measure until a possible enforceable drinking water standard is set (see related story). Perchlorate is a component of munitions and rocket fuel and a widespread drinking water contaminant, especially in the Southwest.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) last fall concluded in a first-time study of perchlorate risks that over one-third of women may be at risk for thyroid impacts as a result of food and water exposure to perchlorate (Defense Environment Alert, Oct. 17, 2006, p19). The study results prompted both the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and federal agencies to launch efforts to review the findings. It also has bolstered environmentalists' efforts to call for stringent standards. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental group critical of California and EPA's regulatory efforts on perchlorate, examined the CDC data, contending that it means exposure to levels of perchlorate allowed under state and federal standards poses potential developmental problems for babies in utero.
EWG plans to meet with OEHHA staff this week, a source with the group says. "We think California needs to re-open its PHG," currently set at 6 parts per billion (ppb) and reassess it in light of the CDC findings, the source says. The group also plans to soon put pressure on federal regulators on this matter, the source says. EPA has not yet decided whether to set a drinking water standard for the chemical but has set an exposure limit of 24.5 ppb, considered too lenient by environmentalists. California is expected to propose a draft perchlorate public health drinking water quality standard of 6 ppb.
But the state's OEHHA is "reviewing the [CDC] study," a spokesman for OEHHA says, noting they are trying to get "a better handle on what it means."
Federal agencies are also reviewing the CDC findings. Members of an interagency work group, which includes representatives from EPA, DOD, the Energy Department, CDC, the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration have discussed the study, one DOD source says. "The health and regulatory agencies are considering what further research is needed to complete our understanding of how perchlorate affects human health and at what levels," the source says.
The EWG source questions how EPA could possibly look at the CDC study and other data and decide not to regulate. From a public health stand point, "it's clear EPA needs to regulate," the source says. But the source predicts the agency faces competing pressure: with Congress pushing for strict standards and DOD, the Energy Department and industry urging EPA to set weaker standards.
Meanwhile, an environmental group in California is alleging industry was the main funding source for more than half of all recent research on the health effects of perchlorate exposure. In a report released in early December by Environment California, the group alleges the industry group "worked to pressure" the National Academy of Sciences "to downplay the risks of rocket fuel exposure" as it set a risk level for the chemical. The report, The Politics of Rocket Fuel Pollution: The Perchlorate Study Group and Its Industry Backers, examined the activities of the industry-backed group known as the Perchlorate Study Group (PSG). Among the members of the PSG are manufacturers and users of perchlorate including Aerojet, Lockheed Martin and Tronox.
A PSG member says, however, the studies funded by industry were chosen and conducted independently from industry, with even the raw data sent directly to EPA.
The environmental group also alleges industry is overly influencing a professional organization of physicians and researchers who specialize in thyroid gland diseases. PSG consultants have issued statements through the American Thyroid Association (ATA) favorable to industry and presented industry research at ATA events, alleges Environment California.
In a Dec. 13 statement on the CDC's findings, the ATA called the CDC results "intriguing," but noted that "several features of the study may limit the immediate application to guidelines for perchlorate exposure standards. These additional factors need to be considered in order to interpret these analyses," it says.
A spokeswoman for the ATA did not respond to questions by press time.
