[CPEO-MEF] EWG calls for release of CDC perchlorate data

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2006


WHITE HOUSE DELAYS RELEASE OF STUDY SHOWING TOXIC ROCKET FUEL IN MOST
AMERICANS


WASHINGTON, March 3 ­ Following a published report that the Bush
Administration is holding up a study that shows most Americans carry
a toxic rocket fuel chemical in their bodies at levels close to
federal safety limits, Environmental Working Group (EWG) is calling
for the immediate release of the study so EPA and state agencies can
take steps to protect the public.

Risk Policy Report, an independent newsletter, reported Feb. 28 that
the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy is pressuring
the Centers for Disease Control to delay the release of a study that
tested for perchlorate in human blood samples from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). An EPA source told
the newsletter that CDC has found levels of perchlorate that "leave
no margin of safety" for the public, compared to EPA's current risk
limit.

Perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in solid rocket fuel, has
contaminated drinking water and soil in at least 35 states, with most
of the known contamination coming from military bases and defense
contractors. Tests by EWG, academic scientists in Texas and Arizona,
state officials in California and the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration have found perchlorate in milk, produce and many other
foods and animal feed crops from coast to coast. Perchlorate is a
thyroid toxin, and animal tests show that even small amounts can
disrupt normal growth and development in fetuses, infants and children.

The NHANES study is a followup to a CDC study last year that found
perchlorate in the urine of every one of 61 Atlanta residents tested,
even though concentrations of perchlorate in the city¹s drinking
water are very low. Last year, scientists at Texas Tech University
also found perchlorate in every sample of human milk from 36 mothers.

In a letter to Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, EWG Senior
Vice President Richard Wiles said the results of the study of Atlanta
residents "indicate that food is likely a major source of perchlorate
exposure, and that perchlorate exposure is likely to be widespread in
the general population."

Although the EPA has no timetable for developing a national drinking
water standard for perchlorate, both Massachusetts and California are
moving forward with their own safety standards. The proposed
standards ­ 1 part per billion in Massachusetts and 6 ppb in
California ­ are far below EPA's recently adopted risk limit of 24.5
ppb, which is a level used as a guidance for cleaning up perchlorate-
contaminated sites. When the EPA announced the risk limit, it
acknowledged the need for "national guidance on relative source
contribution" ­ exactly the information the NHANES data could provide.

"In the absence of national safety standards, the CDC should not be
sitting on data so clearly needed to protect the public from a
chemical that appears to be widespread in drinking water and food,"
wrote Wiles. "The NHANES perchlorate data should be released
immediately."

For the original release and accompanying letter, go to
http://www.ewg.org/issues/perchlorate/20060303/index.php
--


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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