Perchlorate

In the chemical families: Inorganic salts, Perchlorate

Ammonium perchlorate is the oxidant in solid rocket fuel. Ignited with aluminum powder, it burns at up to 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hurling the space shuttle out of the atmosphere and propelling ballistic missiles across continents. A combination of nitrogen, hydrogen, chlorine and oxygen, ammonium perchlorate is an essential component of military explosives, bottle rockets, fireworks, highway flares, automobile airbags and old-fashioned black powder.

Ammonium perchlorate and other perchlorate compounds are also widespread contaminants of drinking water and some foods such as milk and vegetables.

Scientific research has established that perchlorate in significant amounts disrupts production of thyroid hormones, and adequate thyroid hormones are crucial to normal brain development and growth in the fetus, infants and young children.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken the position that drinking water containing less than 24.5 parts per billion of perchlorate poses no hazard to humans, but the Environmental Working Group’s research supports lowering the standard to 1 part per billion.

In a 2001 investigation called Rocket Science: Perchlorate and the Toxic Legacy of the Cold War, EWG found that perchlorates had been detected the sources in drinking water for more than 7 million Californians. A 2003 EWG analysis of government data, Rocket Fuel in Drinking Water, determined that perchlorate had been found in drinking water, groundwater or soil in at least 43 states. EWG commissioned independent laboratory tests of lettuce grown in the fall and winter in Southern California or Arizona. Some 18 percent of the lettuce samples contained perchlorates; someone who ate an average serving of these suspect salads would consume 4 times more perchlorates than the level considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2004, EWG-commissioned lab tests of milk sold in Los Angeles and Orange County, CA, supermarkets found that 31 of 32 samples contained perchlorates, some at unsafe levels for infants and children.

A 2006 CDC survey of 1,100 women that indicated that perchlorate exposure may have caused decreases in critical thyroid hormone levels, especially the 36 percent of U.S. women whose iodide intake is on the low side. Based on that data, EWG estimated that as many as 44 million women who are pregnant, thyroid deficient or have low iodine levels are at heightened risk of exposure to the chemical.

Other CDC studies have found perchlorate in the urine of every person tested and have discovered that children between 6 and 11 had perchlorate levels 1.6 times higher than adults.

Even breast-feeding is no safeguard against perchlorate contamination. In 2005, researchers at Texas Tech University found perchloratein 36 breast-milk samples from nursing mothers in 17 states; the average concentration in breast milk was five times greater than in dairy milk.

In October 2007, EWG set up a groundbreaking, interactive National Tap Water Quality database of water contaminants found in 42 states over 2 1⁄2 years. With the database’s launch, for the first time, the public has been able to access information about specific local water supplies across the U.S.

An EWG analysis of data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), published in January 2008, found that 75 percent of nearly 300 commonly consumed foods and beverages were contaminated with perchlorate. The study found that the average two-year-old would be exposed to more than half of the EPA's safe dose of perchlorate from food; the toddler could reach or exceed the daily limit by consuming more of the chemical in drinking water.

A September 2008 University of Texas research team study found that perchlorate inhibits the transport of iodine through human breast milk. Breast-fed infants are completely dependent on maternal iodine, the building block for thyroid hormones that control brain development. The Texas study suggests infants are actually being contaminated with perchlorate and denied iodine, a double-whammy that could lead to subtle but devastating IQ and developmental deficits.

On October3, 2008, the Bush administration declared that there was no need to regulate perchlorate contamination in drinking water. The decision triggered protests from advocates and scientists, including three EPA scientific advisory panels. On January 8, 2009, in the waning days of the Bush administration, EPA asked the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science to review the perchlorate issue. It issued a non-binding "interim health advisory" to state and local authorities recommending that drinking water contain no more than 15 micrograms per liter, equivalent to 15 parts per billion.

In March 2009, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 15 brands of powdered infant formula were contaminated with perchlorate. The scientists did not name the brands but said the two most contaminated brands, made from cow’s milk, accounted for 87 percent of the U.S. powdered formula market in 2000.

The CDC findings, published in the March 2009 edition of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, raised additional concerns about perchlorate pollution.

The CDC team warned that mixing perchlorate-tainted formula powder with tap water containing “even minimal amounts” of the chemical could boost the resulting mixture’s toxin content above the level the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers safe. Many scientists contend that the EPA “safe” level is too high to protect public health.

Based on this study, EWG urged that the Obama administration promptly set a legally enforceable upper limit on perchlorate contamination in drinking water, consistent with the latest science on perchlorate’s toxic effects.

Health Effects related to Perchlorate: Birth or developmental effects, Endocrine system, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Routes of Exposure related to Perchlorate:

• Environment: agriculture, industrial water pollution
• Food: vegetables
• Found in people
• Miscellaneous
• Water

More chemicals in Inorganic salts: salt, potassium bromide, manganese sulfate, sodium percarbonate, sodium tetraborate, aluminium hydroxide, iron oxide black, potassium iodide, potassium metabisulfite, potassium nitrate, view all...

More chemicals in Perchlorate: view all...