While the polarizing debate about the health effects of the
chemical perchlorate rages on, officials at a groundwater conference
Wednesday agreed the toxic substance is appearing increasingly
in our food and water supply.
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Photo from GRA's 2004
Perchlorate Symposium
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More than 300 people attended the statewide conference on perchlorate
at the Glendale Hilton, sponsored by the Groundwater Resources
Association of California.
The group represented a wide range of people with a vested interest
in issues surrounding perchlorate -- from water suppliers, cities
and environmental groups to scientific consultants, the defense
industry and everybody's lawyers.
Perchlorate, a highly water-soluble byproduct of rocket fuel
and explosives manufacturing, has impacted 370 drinking-water
sources statewide, 334 of which are in Southern California.
Renee Sharp, a senior analyst with the Environmental Working
Group, was part of a toxicology
panel that reported on several recent studies finding perchlorate
in food and cow's milk. Evidence, Sharp said, that crops and livestock
are being affected by contaminated irrigation water or feed.
Samples from common backyard and commercial crops collected from
Southern California farms and grocery stores for the studies,
including lettuce, strawberries, blackberries, alfalfa and soy,
contained perchlorate concentrations ranging from 3.4 to 5.7 parts
per billion, just below the current state action level of 6 ppb.
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Photo from GRA's 2004
Perchlorate Symposium
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"These were not an artifact of the lab. This is the real world,"
Sharp said.
No one at Wednesday's meeting disputed Sharp's findings, but
where the various entities go their separate ways is over how
much exposure to perchlorate is harmful.
Other scientists on the toxicology panel with Sharp argued that
tests done on small animals do not properly apply to humans, that
nitrates in foods are naturally occurring and individual physiology
comes into play as well.
Perchlorate, which inhibits iodine uptake into the thyroid, has
been classified as particularly harmful
to pregnant women and infants and causing mental retardation
and other developmental disorders. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has set a public health goal at 1 ppb, while the state
EPA has adopted a temporary level of 6 ppb.
The defense industry, largely considered the source of perchlorate
from numerous aerospace and manufacturing plants around the state,
continues to lobby vigorously for higher allowable levels of perchlorate.
On Wednesday, Sharp criticized studies being done by the National
Academy of Sciences and the Council on Water Quality, which she
said were funded by the alleged polluters and thus skewed in their
favor.
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Photo from GRA's 2004
Perchlorate Symposium
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"I think it's important to consider who these studies are paid
for by," Sharp said.
At the Boeing Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Lab, a rocket test
site in the hills above Simi, perchlorate has contaminated the
soil and groundwater at high levels.
The site is undergoing a cleanup but remains under suspicion
as the source of contamination on the valley floor.
Boeing officials continue to vigorously deny the Field Lab is
the source of pollution in Simi -- an aggressive stance that a
panel of environmental attorneys agreed the defense industry is
taking to avoid paying for costly cleanup.
Water agencies and defense contractors are embroiled in costly
lawsuits in the San Gabriel and Santa Clarita valleys.
"It's like a high-stakes game of poker," said Andrew Yamamoto,
an attorney who represents plaintiffs such as cities or water
agencies against alleged polluters.
Earl Hagstrom, on the other hand, who represents defendants in
such cases, argued that defense contractors, who once provided
good-paying jobs, should not have to shoulder the cost of cleanup
alone.
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Photo from GRA's 2004
Perchlorate Symposium
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"Every dollar we spend on remediation is one less dollar that
goes toward growing the economy," Hagstrom said.
He also believes litigation before a final public health-exposure
limit is established is "putting the cart before the horse," but
he said it would be years before such a limit is established.
Science, politics, legislation and economics all come into play
when trying to arrive at a limit agreeable to all, Hagstrom said.
Others, such as Gina Solomon, a senior scientist for the National
Resources Defense Council and assistant clinical professor of
medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said
she finds herself rather impatient with the drawn-out debate in
establishing a perchlorate goal protective of health in California.
She insists numerous studies indicate perchlorate exposure at
even very low levels is harmful to fetuses and nursing infants.
"Instead of continuing to argue the science," Solomon said during
a keynote speech at the conference, "we need to find ways to clean
up this problem to be protective of public health."
Related Links:
> Symposium
Resource Binders Available for Purchase
> Symposium Presentation
Slides Available in GRA Members Area
