CDC Finds Rocket Fuel Chemical In Baby Formula

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

Perchlorate Found In Several Cities' Water Supplies

POSTED: 6:04 am EDT April 3, 2009

ATLANTA -- Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what's considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient, a government study has found.

The study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula. It was published last month, but the Environmental Working Group issued a press release Thursday drawing attention to it.

The chemical has turned up in several cities' drinking water supplies. It can occur naturally, but most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites.

No tests have ever shown the chemical caused health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of perchlorate can affect thyroid function. The thyroid helps set the body's metabolism. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/health/19084186/detail.html

[Ian David]

1. It helps them crawl faster. n/t

[Twinguard]

4. Hahaha!!!

Good one!

[Sultana]

2. Made in China?

[ensho]

3. its hard for a woman to produce a healthy child nowadays

bring our military home from the world, train them in the ways of HAZMAT and start them cleaning up america.

or keep on having unhealthy babies and children and future adults, if they live that long.

[MsLeopard]

5. They won't disclose the brands???

"The researchers would not disclose the brands of formula they studied." Have we gotten so into protecting corporations that now we're willing to sacrifice our children? Is this a joke?

[Igel]

10. No, but some researchers still respect principle.

(1) They studied a few number of samples. Did they hit the one batch in 20k that had it, or is it routine? You say you found it, the assumption is that it's routine even if the assumption is false. Most people are zero-tolerance when it comes to risks introduced to their lives by other people, and also bumble at elementary stats.

The responsible thing is to increase the sample size in a study surveying perchlorate concentrations in infant formula. Is there a real problem? What's actually going on?

(2) They don't know what the source was. This goes to (1), as well. Was it in the water used to irrigate the corn that was fed to some of the cows that produced the milk made into baby formula? Was it in something imported that isn't currently imported? It's a question worth asking because if you decide to avoid one brand in favor of another, you just might wind up changing brands as the brands change suppliers.

[jeff30997]

6. Prediction:

More Spontaneous Combustion cases in the years to come.

[rosesaylavee]

7. Swell.

[AlphaCentauri]

8. then it comes the question, why are there so many cancer cases?

there is pollution all over our food

[starroute]

9. Perchlorate can be blamed on US industry and its front groups

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/reports/clean-water/clean-water-program-reports/the-politics-of-rocket-fuel-pollution

The Politics of Rocket Fuel Pollution
2006-12-01

The main ingredient in solid rocket fuel — perchlorate — pollutes drinking water sources in more than 20 states. Tests also reveal perchlorate in grocery store food supplies and in breast milk from women across the country. A 2005 study by researchers at Texas Tech University suggests that breastfed babies ingest levels of perchlorate that exceed the ‘safe dose’ recently established by the National Academy of Science—putting children at risk for development damage. California state agencies have discovered perchlorate in more than 400 water sources since 1997, including the Colorado River and hundreds of municipal wells.

In 1992 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the first steps toward requiring cleanup of perchlorate from drinking water. In response, a group of manufacturers and users of rocket fuel joined to form the Perchlorate Study Group (PSG), with the stated intention of helping EPA by providing scientific information. . . .

The PSG supports an organization called the Council on Water Quality, including a prominent spokesperson (former California EPA director James Strock). The Council has consistently and publicly downplayed concerns about rocket fuel exposure. Deeper investigation reveals that: The Council on Water Quality is actually a project of the public relations firm APCO Worldwide; in 2004, the PSG paid APCO $770,000 to run this effort; and on behalf of Philip Morris, APCO has used similar front groups to challenge the use of science in policy-making and make it harder for citizens to sue corporations.


http://www.councilonwaterquality.org/about/index.html

The Council on Water Quality is supported by a subset of the member companies of the Perchlorate Study Group, including Lockheed Martin, Aerojet, Tronox and American Pacific Corporation.


http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/EPA_might_not_act_to_limit_rocket_f_05062008.html

May 06, 2008

An EPA official said Tuesday there's a "distinct possibility" the agency won't take action to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has contaminated public water supplies around the country.

Democratic senators called that unacceptable. They argued that states and local communities shouldn't have to bear the expense of cleansing their drinking water of perchlorate, which has been found in at least 395 sites in 35 states — or the risk of not doing so. . . .

Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency, told a Senate hearing that EPA is aware that perchlorate is widespread and poses health risks.

But he said that after years of study, EPA has yet to determine whether regulating perchlorate in drinking water would do much good.

[kestrel91316]

11. This is one we probably aren't gonna be able to blame on China, for once.

We have done a great job of polluting groundwater with perc all over the US.