[CPEO-MEF] Wall Street Journal perchlorate articles

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Today's (December 29, 2005) Wall Street Journal contains a front-page
feature article by Peter Waldman describing in detail how the Defense
Department, White House, and government contractors undermined U.S.
EPA's efforts to establish a health-protective standard for perchlorate.
Unfortunately, the article is only available either in the print edition
or online to paying subscribers at http://www.wsj.com. There is also a
sidebar explaining how perchlorate polluters got the University of
Nebraska to sponsor an "independent" symposium on perchlorate toxicity.

Waldman has documented what many of us have suspected for some time. The
Bush Administration's playing field for debates over environmental
protection is often far from level. The results may mean that millions
of American children will be exposed to perchlorate, for the foreseeable
future, at levels likely to cause them harm.

But the issue goes far beyond perchlorate. The Administration is using
the perchlorate model to undermine EPA's proposed health-protective
standards for trichloroethylene, and probably for other toxic substances
that I don't monitor, likely leading to continuing unsafe exposures for
many millions more.

As I read Waldman's article, this goes beyond genuine scientific debate.
That process has been corrupted. There is little reason for the affected
public to trust the agencies and other organizations that have taken part.

It's imperative that a body independent of the Administration - perhaps
Congress fits that bill this week - investigation how the White House,
federal polluting agencies, and their contractors have distorted the way
our government "protects" public health and the environment.

Lenny

-- 


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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