News Coverage
Feds to test for toxin in food items
Perchlorate in Calif. lettuce prompts action
Published April 28, 2003
After revelations that some winter lettuce was tainted with a rocket fuel ingredient, officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday they are developing tests to spot the chemical.
Some samples of lettuce taken in January and February from store shelves in Northern California were found to have detectable levels of perchlorate after testing commissioned by the Oakland-based Environmental Working Group.
Perchlorate, a key ingredient in solid rocket fuel, affects thyroid function and is thought to be especially dangerous to fetuses and infants, whose brain development relies on a properly functioning thyroid.
Most lettuce sold during those two months comes from Imperial Valley and Yuma County, Ariz., which is largely irrigated with water from the Colorado River. The river is contaminated with perchlorate leaching from the soil of a former Kerr-McGee Corp. plant near Henderson, Nev.
"This is an issue we've been aware of,' said Brad Stone, spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Maryland. "We're developing better analytical methods for testing.'
He couldn't say for sure when such a standardized test for checking perchlorate levels in food might be available but guessed it could be in the next few months.
Stater Bros. Markets has been testing for perchlorate for about a month, said company President Jack Brown. The chain is following a state recommendation of 20 parts per billion, and no tested lettuce has exceeded that, he said.
"There isn't a problem with what we receive or what we put on the shelves,' Brown said.
The company had been testing its bottled water, and its chemist suggested testing vegetables with a high water content, he said.
Stone couldn't comment on the methods used by Texas Tech University, which conducted tests for Environmental Working Group. Its report, "Suspect Salads: Toxic Rocket Fuel Found in Winter Lettuce,' is available on the group's Web site at www.ewg.org.
The report estimates up to 1.6 million women of childbearing age nationwide may be consuming lettuce with unacceptable levels of perchlorate.
There is no enforceable maximum limit for perchlorate in drinking water, but scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have recommended 1 part per billion as safe.
Some of the lettuce samples showed levels as high as 121 parts per billion, also known as micrograms per liter, which in a 2-ounce serving would translate to about 6.7 micrograms of perchlorate, the report said.
Perchlorate was also detected several years ago in lettuce grown locally with contaminated water from Redlands, where a major plume of groundwater contamination has spread from a former Lockheed Martin Corp. rocket-fuel plant in Mentone.
Those who commissioned the report wonder why the federal government has taken so long.
"If they're working on it, we urge them to move swiftly,' said Bill Walker, Environmental Working Group's West Coast vice president.
Once the government is satisfied with its testing method, it will check not only lettuce but other food as well, and from different places, Stone said.
"The ultimate goal will be to get a better understanding of levels and the health effects of those levels,' he said.
The federal government is still a long way from enacting a drinking-water standard for perchlorate, and California is required by a state law to come up with a standard next year.
Lettuce on the shelves this time of year comes from areas outside of the Imperial Valley, and is grown in areas where it is thought there are no perchlorate problems, Walker said.