[CPEO-MEF] perchlorate science

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Cost, risks fuel debate over safety

Impact on health weighed against billions for cleanup

By DOUGLAS E. BEEMAN and DAVID DANELSKI
Riverside Press-Enterprise (CA)
December 19, 2004



The debate over the rocket-fuel chemical perchlorate has become a tug of 
war between those worried about the nation's health and those charged 
with the nation's defense.

On one side is the potential harm to the nation's most vulnerable people 
- newborns and babies still in the womb. On the other side is the threat 
to the nation's armaments - and a cleanup bill that could reach into the 
tens of billions of dollars.

Good science could settle much of the debate.

But the industries that make and use perchlorate have mingled politics 
and public relations with science in their campaign to convince the 
government that small amounts of the chemical in drinking water will not 
harm the public.

Industry groups contend that a level of 200 parts of the chemical per 
billion parts of water is safe for everyone. California, Massachusetts 
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say a safe level is 1 to 6 
parts per billion. Many Inland water supplies have more than what state 
and federal officials say is safe.

…

For the entire article, see
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_perch19.5838f.html


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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