FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 30, 2006

CONTACT: Bill Walker, 510-444-0973 x301

                EWG Public Affairs, (202) 667-6982

THYROID TROUBLE:
UNDER PROPOSED ROCKET FUEL STANDARDS, MANY WOMEN WOULD NEED TREATMENT TO PROTECT BABY

Report Finds Drinking Water Limits
for Perchlorate Inadequate

OAKLAND, CA — Exposure to a rocket fuel chemical widespread in the
U.S. drinking water and food supply, at levels equal to or lower than
national and state standards, could cause thyroid deficiency in more
than 2 million women of childbearing age who would require medical
treatment to protect their unborn babies, according to an Environmental
Working Group (EWG) analysis of new data from the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control.

At a hearing in Sacramento today, California health officials will
consider a proposed standard for perchlorate in drinking water that EWG
found could trigger thyroid deficiency requiring treatment during
pregnancy in more than 272,000 California women. New Jersey’s proposed
standard could cause such a deficiency in 65,000 women in that state.

If applied nationwide, the level proposed in California could cause
thyroid deficiency requring treatment during pregnancy in more than 2.2
million women of childbearing age. The federal government has no
perchlorate drinking water standard, but its standard for cleanup of
hazardous waste sites is more than four times weaker than the
California drinking water proposal, extending the risk to millions of
additional women and their babies.

EWG’s study, available at www.ewg.org,
shows that the perchlorate cleanup standard adopted by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, and the safety standards for
perchlorate in drinking water under consideration in California and New
Jersey, are inadequate to protect the 22 million American women of
childbearing age who don’t get enough iodine in their diet. Even the
stricter drinking water standard already adopted by Massachusetts would
cause a decline in women’s thyroid levels.

“In light of what we now know from the Centers for Disease Control
data, California’s proposed standard is inadequate to protect public
health,” said EWG scientist Anila Jacob, M.D., who will present the
group’s findings at the hearing today. “State and federal standards
should reflect the fact that exposure to even low levels of perchlorate
could place a significant number of women of childbearing age at
increased risk of thyroid deficiency, and if they became pregnant, they
would need treatment to protect their unborn children.”

Perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in solid rocket fuel, has
leaked from military bases and defense and aerospace contractors’
plants in at least 22 states, contaminating drinking water for millions
of Americans. The chemical has also been found widely in supermarket
milk, produce and many other foods, and in a separate study, the CDC
found it in the urine of every person tested. As small changes in
thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy — even within the normal range
— are associated with decreased intellectual and learning capacity in
childhood, the extensive reach of perchlorate contamination has huge
implications for public health.

Earlier this month, a startling study from the Centers for Disease
Control found that in the 36 percent of U.S. women with low iodine
intake, almost any amount of perchlorate exposure was linked to a
significant change in levels of thyroid hormones. For about 1 in 10 of
these women, if they were exposed to 5 parts per billion of perchlorate
in drinking water, the resulting hormone disruption would require
treatment during pregnancy for sub-clinical hypothyroidism, according
to a consensus of clinical endrocinologists.

Under pressure from the Pentagon and the defense industry, EPA has
delayed setting a national drinking water standard for perchlorate. But
earlier this year, after a controversial National Academy of Sciences
study — since strongly criticized by a federal advisory panel on
children’s health — the EPA adopted a standard for cleanup of
perchlorate-contaminated waste sites of 24.5 parts per billion.

California is in the final stages of adopting a perchlorate drinking
water standard of 6 ppb, recommended by state scientists before release
of the CDC study. The proposed standard in New Jersey is 5 ppb. In
July, Massachusetts adopted 2 ppb as the nation’s first legally
enforceably drinking water standard.

Related Document: CDC Study (PDF)

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The Environmental Working Group and Environmental Working Group
Action Fund are nonprofits that use the power of information to protect
public health and the environment.