Disease Proof

A top Environmental Protection Agency official told a Senate committee Tuesday that there was "a distinct possibility" that the agency would not limit the amount of perchlorate, a toxic ingredient of solid rocket fuel, that is allowable in drinking water.

State officials and water suppliers across the nation have been waiting for the EPA to set a standard for several years because perchlorate has contaminated the water supplies of at least 11 million people. Last year, California, impatient with the EPA's indecision, set its own standard.

Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said the EPA would decide by the end of the year whether to regulate perchlorate. Scientific studies have shown that the chemical blocks iodide and suppresses thyroid hormones, which are necessary for the normal brain development of a fetus or infant.

"We know that perchlorate can have an adverse effect and we're concerned about that," Grumbles told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the committee, told Grumbles that she heard from EPA staffers that there was a strong likelihood that the agency would decide against setting any standard.

I’m not sure what the EPA is up to; lead bad, nanosilver bad, rocket fuel okay?

Hi Gerry,

Have you ever read "Bushwhacked" by Molly Ivins? I suggest it - besides being hilarious, she goes into how the EPA has been actually attacking environmental standards since 2000. It really goes past incompetence and this is no surprise to me.

If you've noticed in Jersey, as we have in PA, there are no more superfund sites, but there's still the need for them. This is exactly why.