Cal/EPA Opens Comment Period for Perchlorate Prop 65 Listing

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2004
CONTACT:     Craig Noble or Gina Solomon at (415) 777-0220

Cal/EPA Opens Comment Period for Perchlorate Prop 65 Listing
Schwarzenegger administration urged to finalize standards for
perchlorate in drinking water

Two related actions are spotlighting the toxic health risk from the
chemical perchlorate. First, the California Environmental Protection
Agency (Cal/EPA) today announced the opening of a public comment
period on the potential listing of perchlorate as a chemical "known to
the State of California to cause birth defects or reproductive harm."
It's the first step toward listing the chemical under Proposition 65,
the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

Second, Cal/EPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is
expected to release the long-awaited Public Health Goal (PHG) for
perchlorate in drinking water as soon as next week. The PHG is a level
that is presumed to be "safe" for pregnant women and children to consume
in their water on a daily basis. The California Department of Health
Services would use the PHG to set an enforceable drinking water
standard. Although the PHG was required by law to have been released
over a year ago, it was delayed by litigation brought by two major
perchlorate polluters: Lockheed Martin and Kerr McGee. The latter
company is blamed for polluting the lower Colorado River with
perchlorate, contaminating the City of Los Angeles' drinking water. The
state now faces a court deadline of March 12 to issue a PHG. The
governor is under immense pressure from the polluting industries to
delay issuing both the public health goal and the enforceable standard.
Environmental and public health advocates are urging his administration
to move forward quickly to finalize perchlorate standards that will
fully protect infants, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.

Perchlorate, used in rocket fuel, fireworks, and flares, contaminates
the drinking water of an estimated 15 to 20 million Californians. It
interferes with thyroid function and can cause neurological
impairments, such decreased intelligence and delayed learning ability,
in humans exposed as a fetus or infant. Despite this danger,
California still does not have an enforceable regulatory standard for
perchlorate in drinking water.

NRDC petitioned Cal/EPA to list perchlorate under Prop 65 in July
2002. Prop 65 requires the labeling of chemicals known to the state to
cause cancer or reproductive harm. It also prohibits the discharge of
any listed chemical into "sources of drinking water." Many products
sold in California have been reformulated with less toxic ingredients
because of Prop 65.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit
organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists
dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in
1970, NRDC has more than 550,000 members nationwide, served from
offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More
information is available through NRDC's Web site at <www.nrdc.org.

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