News Coverage
Traces of perchlorate found in most samples of region's milk
Published June 20, 2004
Got milk?
Then you've probably got a rocket fuel additive, too.
Researchers found minute amounts of perchlorate in 31 of 32 milk samples purchased at grocery stores in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture also discovered trace levels in milk purchased in Northern California, according to the Environmental Working Group, which filed a public records request to obtain the state agency's study results.
The agriculture department urged people to continue drinking milk, and noted that the research was not comprehensive.
"At this point, there is not enough information that eating foods with low levels of perchlorate causes a significant health concern,' said Steve Lyle,a department spokesman.
San Bernardino County interim Health Officer Dr. Eric Frykman agreed.
"In general, I don't think that perchlorate in such minute levels causes health problems,' he said.
Texas Tech University researchers found perchlorate levels in the Southern California milk averaged about 1.3 parts per billion or ppb while the Northern California milk averaged about 5.8 ppb. One ppb is equal to a half a teaspoon in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Some scientists suspect the chemical ended up in milk because dairy farmers throughout the state feed cows alfalfa irrigated with perchlorate-tainted Colorado River water, which also has contaminated lettuce and other vegetables.
Perchlorate is a salt used in solid rocket fuel, fireworks and other products. Former rocket manufacturing sites and military storage areas are suspected of polluting local groundwater.
The chemical impairs iodine uptake by the thyroid at very low levels, but so far there is no scientific consensus about what danger, if any, that impairment poses to people.
The thyroid needs iodine to produce certain hormones essential to brain development, and some fear even low levels of perchlorate can cause brain abnormalities in newborns and young children.
"We are not worried about its effect on you and me,' said Bill Walker, the Environmental Working Group's West Coast vice president. "We are worried about its effect on the unborn and young children.'
The new research puts parents in a quandary because nixing milk from a child's diet can affect growth and development, said Susan Lien Longville, associate director of the Water Resources Institute at California State University at San Bernardino.
Longville, who is also a San Bernardino City Councilwoman, said parents should not stop giving their children milk because of the findings.
"The fact of the matter is that the science is still out on what the cumulative effect of perchlorate in milk, water and lettuce is on sensitive populations,' she said.
Longville interviewed numerous experts for a documentary called "Blast from the Past.' The program chronicles the legacy of perchlorate, which has powered military rockets for more than half a century.
"The only one thing they agree on is that we don't know,' she said.
Call (909) 880-7681 to order a DVD copy of the program for $2.50.
For more detailed information about the Environmental Working Group's milk study, visit the group's Web site at www.ewg.org