Perchlorate fuels concerns over drinking water

Forget BPA. There might be rocket fuel in your water.

The Environmental Protection Agency [recently announced] that it has no plans to remove perchlorate, a chemical in rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and young children and interferes with normal brain development in babies, from drinking water.

The chemical has been leaking from military bases and defense and aerospace contractors’ plants for decades and has been found in the drinking water, groundwater or soil in at least 43 states, according to the Washington, D.C.–based non-profit research organization the Environmental Working Group.

Congressional Democrats and environmentalists blasted the administration’s decision. “The health and well-being of millions of breast-fed babies are being ignored by EPA so the defense industry and their agents in the Pentagon can avoid cleaning up the mess they’ve made,” said Environmental Working Group Senior Scientist Anila Jacob, M.D.

To read the full-length article, go achs.edu and click on News and Events, or click here.

Copyright © 2008 The Natural Foods Merchandiser

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