[CPEO-MEF] The Poison of Ignorance

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

THE LA TIMES
Editorial
The Poison of Ignorance
Government should determine whether there's a threat in our foods from a
rocket-fuel chemical.
April 29, 2003

Six years ago, after scientists found potentially toxic levels of the
chemical perchlorate in two missile manufacturing plants in Utah and in
several water wells in California, Agriculture Department officials
proposed conducting a $215,000 study to investigate whether the
Pentagon's use of the chemical in manufacturing rocket fuel during the
Cold War could have caused the pollution. The Pentagon refused to pony
up the money, less than one-quarter of the cost of a single cruise
missile.

Today, efforts to study the extent of perchlorate contamination remain
mired in politics, even as new research suggests that such ignorance may
be putting the public's health at risk.

A study published Monday by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group
tested 22 types of lettuce purchased at California supermarkets this
year and found that at least four were contaminated with levels of
perchlorate that might be high enough to cause thyroid dysfunction.

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