A boy pours tap water into a drinking glass. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced it will not impose new limits on perchlorate in drinking water. (Photo: Teresa Short/Getty Images)
"The Trump EPA gave perchlorate a pass; it was a bad decision then, and it's a bad decision now," said one environmental advocate.
JULIA CONLEY
Public health advocates said Thursday that they plan to resume litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency after the Biden administration announced it would uphold former President Donald Trump's decision to not regulate drinking water levels of a chemical used to make rocket fuel and explosives.
Former President Barack Obama's administration proposed limits for perchlorate after finding in 2011 that drinking water for 16 million people may have unsafe levels of the contaminant, which poses a risk to the development of children and fetuses.
"Tap water across America will remain contaminated by this toxic chemical."
Groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) were outraged when Trump refused to impose the limits, claiming regulation was "not in the public interest." The EPA's announcement this week sparked renewed criticism, with the NRDC calling the decision "unscientific and unlawful."
"The Trump EPA gave perchlorate a pass; it was a bad decision then, and it's a bad decision now," said Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for health at the organization. "Tap water across America will remain contaminated by this toxic chemical, which threatens the brain development of babies in the womb, infants, and young children at extremely low levels."
The Trump administration claimed that 56 parts per billion (ppb) was an acceptable level of perchlorate in drinking water—far higher than limits that Massachusetts and California have imposed at the state level, requiring water to contain no more than two ppb and six ppb, respectively.
Before Thursday's announcement, the American Academy of Pediatrics had called on the EPA to establish the "strongest possible" limits on the chemical.
Exposure to perchlorate has been linked to measurable decreases in IQ in newborns; the chemical interferes with the thyroid gland and stunts the production of hormones needed for proper child development.
High concentrations of perchlorate have been found in at least 26 states, with communities near military bases at high risk for exposure because the chemical is a component in munitions.
The limits proposed by the Obama administration were met with aggressive lobbying by military contractors including Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin and were never imposed. The NRDC sued the EPA after it failed to set new standards, securing a court order requiring the agency to regulate the chemical by 2019.
The group then sued the Trump administration when it announced it would not impose limits, but paused the litigation after Biden won the 2020 election.
The risk sciences department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said the EPA's decision represents "a step backwards that leaves the states and communities most impacted out there by themselves."
The EPA said that instead of imposing limits, it will develop a plan to clean up detonation sites with very high levels of perchlorate contamination, provide a "web-based toolkit" to advise water systems about perchlorate, and "continue to consider new information on the health effects and occurrence of perchlorate."
According to Olson, "By refusing to establish a standard or water testing requirements, the EPA decision will also keep members of the public in the dark, without even basic information about whether they are being exposed to perchlorate."
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A perchlorate is a chemical compound containing the perchlorate ion, ClO−4. The majority of perchlorates are commercially produced salts. They are mainly used as oxidizers for pyrotechnic devices and to control static electricity in food packaging.[2] Perchlorate contamination in food, water, and other parts of the environment has been studied in the U.S. because of harmful effects on human health. Perchlorate ions are somewhat toxic to the thyroid gland.
Most perchlorates are colorless solids that are soluble in water. Four perchlorates are of primary commercial interest: ammonium perchlorate NH4ClO4, perchloric acid HClO4, potassium perchlorate KClO4 and sodium perchlorate NaClO4. Perchlorate is the anion resulting from the dissociation of perchloric acid and its salts upon their dissolution in water. Many perchlorate salts are soluble in non-aqueous solutions.
Perchlorate (ClO4-) is an inorganic compound that occurs naturally in nitrate deposits and potash ore. It may also be present in air, soil, and water as a result of the industrial uses of perchlorate salts (perchlorate combined with another element or compound such as sodium or ammonium) and nitrate fertilizers. Perchlorate salts are primarily used in solid fuels, explosives, fireworks, road flares, air bag inflators, rubber manufacturing, paint and enamel manufacturing and pulp and paper processing. As a result of its ubiquitous presence in the environment, trace amounts of perchlorate may also enter the food chain.
In humans, high doses of perchlorate have been used to treat hyperthyroidism since it has the ability to disrupt the function of the thyroid gland by preventing the uptake of iodine. However, the potential exposure to perchlorate from the diet is expected to be orders of magnitude less than a therapeutic dose.
Health authorities became concerned with perchlorate when it was detected in a number of well water and drinking water supplies across the United States in the 1990s. However, it was mostly detected in water sources in proximity to military areas or perchlorate salt production facilities. Perchlorate has been detected in samples of ground and surface water in Canada, but levels are so low that there would be no human health concern associated with consuming this water. It has also been detected at low levels in certain foods.
Perchlorate
G. Karimi, R. Rezaee, in Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 2014
Water
Perchlorate was sampled in drinking water supplies as part of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR) 1, List 1 Assessment Monitoring program. Occurrence data for perchlorate was collected from 3865 public water supplies between 2001 and 2005. Approximately 160 (4.1%) of these systems had at least one analytical detection of perchlorate (in at least one entry/sampling point) at levels ≥4 μg l−1. These 160 systems are located in 26 states and two territories. Approximately 1.9% (or 637) of the 34 331 samples collected by all 3865 public water supplies had positive detections of perchlorate at levels ≥4 μg l−1. The maximum reported concentration of perchlorate, 420 μg l−1, was found in a single surface water sample from a public water supply in Puerto Rico. The average concentration of perchlorate for those samples with positive detections for perchlorate was 9.85 μg l−1 and the median concentration was 6.40 μg l−1. There is limited information on the release of perchlorate to ambient water. Perchlorate may be released to water from its manufacture, processing, or use. Perchlorate may ultimately be released to surface water from the runoff or erosion of sand or soil contaminated with the compound, whereas the percolation of water through contaminated sand or soil could result in perchlorate contaminating groundwater.
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