perchlorate: Variable factors determine 'safe' toxin levels - economics of politicized science - !!!

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One of the seemingly rare articles that dares mention the politics of

" science " .

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Variable factors determine 'safe' toxin levels

By Pesick, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 12/31/2006 12:00:00 AM PST

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4927697

How much of a dangerous chemical is safe to drink?

The answer to that question is something two states - California and

Massachusetts - don't agree upon. A new study by Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention scientists has put California on the defense for

its reliance on an older, smaller-scale study.

The dangerous chemical in question is perchlorate, which has been found in

drinking water wells throughout the Inland Empire, leading Rialto and

Colton to file federal lawsuits against a number of corporations and

government entities, including Goodrich, Black & Decker, San Bernardino

County and, in Rialto's case, the Defense Department.

Also, the state has detected the chemical in groundwater both on and off

the Wyle site in Norco.

Used in the production of products such as rocket fuel, explosives and

fireworks, perchlorate can harm humans by interfering with the functioning

of the thyroid gland.

In July, Massachusetts capped the amount of perchlorate allowed in

drinking water at two parts per billion.

California, on the other hand, is heading toward adopting a standard of

six parts per billion. That won't become official until the state

Department of Health Services responds to comments it received on the

plan, which could take until the end of January.

The differences boil down to science and politics, officials and

environmentalists say.

Study's scope contested

This summer, before the release of the CDC study, the state Health

Services Department proposed six parts per billion as the maximum level of

perchlorate allowed in drinking water.

Some environmentalists complained that the level was too high, noting it

was three times higher than the level set by Massachusetts only a month

earlier.

State officials based their proposal on a study authored by the late Dr.

Monte Greer, who reported that healthy adults could safely be exposed to

perchlorate at concentrations of about 200 parts per billion.

" We felt that the Greer study was really the best study to use, " Allan

Hirsch, a spokesman for California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard

Assessment, said before the CDC released its study.

The Greer study, however, was limited in scope. It exposed a relatively

small number of healthy adults - 37 - to perchlorate for just 14 days.

Because of those limitations, Sharp, an analyst at the Environmental

Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research organization, said

California should have considered how perchlorate can affect sensitive

populations, such as children and people with thyroid conditions.

And Massachusetts officials agreed.

Carol Rowan West, director of the Massachusetts Department of

Environmental Protection's Office of Research and Standards, put less

confidence in the Greer study than her counterparts in California.

" We had more concerns about the quality of the data and lack of data on

certain issues, " she said.

In addition, while California officials assumed that 60 percent of the

perchlorate a person ingests comes from drinking water, Massachusetts

officials put that number at 20 percent, saying people consume more

perchlorate from food.

CDC study and the thyroid

The CDC study provides policy makers with a great deal of new information

to chew on.

" It's a very respectable study from a highly respected organization, " said

Mayer, the regional perchlorate coordinator for the Environmental

Protection Agency.

The nationwide study found that even low levels of perchlorate can affect

thyorid hormone levels.

" We didn't expect to see such low levels of perchlorate have this effect

on the thyroid, " said one of the study's co-authors, Pirkle.

He said women with low urinary iodine levels or low levels of iodine in

their diet are particularly vulnerable.

" This is going to be important information for those people who are

setting acceptable levels (for perchlorate), " he said.

California's state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is now

analyzing the CDC's data, Hirsch said.

Riley, the deputy director for Prevention Services at the Department

of Health Services, said the department is not legally permitted to set a

lower standard than OEHHA recommends.

Money and politics

Environmentalists also claim that political and cost considerations help

explain why California is moving toward a higher standard than the one

adopted by Massachusetts.

If the California standard were set at two parts per billion, the costs of

treating water would be " astronomical, " said Fraser, Colton's

director of water and wastewater.

He said water standards are often based on factors other than public

health. Water in the Bay Area, for example, is only disinfected, not

filtered, he said, because of political pressure to lower water-quality

standards.

" It just shows you how the political process sometimes can impact the

adoption of drinking water standards, " he said.

*

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