Contaminated Lettuce Contains Toxins from Rocket Fuel

Vegans and Vegetarians beware: EPA Tests Find Rocket Fuel in Nation's Milk, Lettuce
The government has found traces of a rocket fuel chemical in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and bottled spring water from Texas and California.

12.01.04

Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tests released this week have confirmed the presence of perchlorate - an explosive additive in solid rocket fuel - in almost every sample of lettuce and milk taken in a nationwide investigation making the contamination much more widespread the previously thought. Perchlorate, leaking from military bases and defense contractor's facilities, is known to cause regional water pollution, resulting in serious health effects. The study confirms what VOF and others have been saying for quite some time and contradicts the awards the DOD receives for cleanup of military sites. (see related articles)

Perchlorate is found in products such as rocket fuel and explosives, and has most commonly been associated with military sites. Perchlorate is also a component of some types of bleach. It is present in some fertilizer materials that are used in growing flowers.

The FDA investigation found the toxic additive in 217 of 232 samples of lettuce and milk from 15 states, including areas not previously known for perchlorate contamination. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's perchlorate coordinator for the southwest and Pacific region, Kevin Mayer, the FDA results show that this regional pollution problem is now exposing people across the entire U.S. to the toxin.

Take Tewksbury for instance. Local and state officials have been investigating the source of Tewksbury's contamination for months and recently narrowed the focus to Billerica, where recent tests found hundreds of parts per billion of perchlorate in water from the sewage treatment plant. Officials have identified a party they believe is responsible for introducing the chemical into a local sewer system, allowing it to then leach into the Merrimack and Concord Rivers, Town Manager David Cressman said. Tewksbury Selectmen Chairman Joe Gill said he understands the source is a medical company based in Billerica. He said he does not know which company.

BILLERICA C.R. Bard Inc., a Billerica medical-device manufacturer, came forward and admitted it has been discharging high levels of perchlorate into the sewer system and is considered the primary source of Tewksbury's drinking water contamination.

What Balderdash!!! Here we have a states wide contamination of our food supply, our water and there is no priority from the FDA on cleaning up this contamination, even though we know it causes health problems.

The government has found traces of a rocket fuel chemical in organic milk in Maryland, green leaf lettuce grown in Arizona and bottled spring water from Texas and California.

In addition, the FDA found that of the various food items it tested, iceberg lettuce grown in Belle Glade, Fla., had the highest concentrations of perchlorate. The greens had 71.6 parts per billion of the compound, the primary ingredient in solid rocket propellent. Red leaf lettuce grown in El Centro, Calif., had 52 ppb of perchlorate. Most of the purified, distilled and spring bottled water, tested around the nation, had no detectable amount of perchlorate.

Whole organic milk in Maryland, however, had 11.3 ppb of perchlorate.

Asked whether that level of chemical in milk was worrisome, Mayer, the EPA's regional perchlorate coordinator for Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, said, "The answer is, we don't know yet."

The FDA said in a statement that consumers should not change their eating habits in response to the test results, posted on the agency's Web site Friday.

The state of California, meanwhile, set a standard of no more than 10 ppb of perchlorate in drinking water. That was lowered to 6 ppb in drinking water to account for the chemical also lacing food, Mayer said.

A more conservative suggestion, in a draft from the EPA, would allow no more than 1 ppb of perchlorate in drinking water. Environmental Protection Agency and District government officials said last night that there was no need for immediate action but agreed that aggressive monitoring of perchlorate was now needed.

"This is surprising new evidence that rocket fuel is getting into the food supply in places we never would have suspected. It means that perchlorate exposure is not just a problem in areas where the drinking water is contaminated, but a concern for everyone, every time we visit the grocery store," Bill Walker, West coast vice president of Environmental Working Group (EWG)said.

"It's subtle," said Walker. "It's not like you're fine today if you get 6 parts per billion (of perchlorate in milk) and then tomorrow you drink a glass with 7 parts per billion and suddenly you're sick."

He added, however, that people with existing thyroid problems and pregnant women should monitor the total amount of perchlorate they ingest each day.

"We found that there are some people out there -- like the 1.6 million people of child-bearing age -- who are eating a diet very heavy in lettuce," he said. "This could be exceeding the EPA's recommended safe dose."

The FDA report comes on the tail of the release from MR3 Systems, Inc. and the Purolite Company of a new system to clean up perchlorate. Who was surprised by that?

Problems associated with perchlorate include impaired thyroid function, tumors, cancer, and decreased learning capacity and developmental problems --such as loss of hearing and speech -- in children.

Last December the Bush Administration and the Defense Department stalled regarding a national standard for safe drinking water. The EPA's preliminary risk assessment found that perchlorate should not exceed 1 part per billion (ppb) in drinking water for protecting developing fetuses, but industry and Defense Department scientists claim that as much as 200 ppb is safe for human consumption.

The EPA's suggested safe level of 1 ppb is below levels found in several drinking water sources, including the Colorado River. Since perchlorate pollution stems largely from military sites, costs for cleanup would be the responsibility of the Defense Department.

A more refined test of the water in the Washington Aqueduct has revealed the presence of perchlorate federal officials said yesterday. The discovery of the chemical in the water supply challenges the prevailing theory of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has argued that contamination from buried World War I munitions in the Spring Valley neighborhood to the north poses no threat to Dalecarlia Reservoir along MacArthur Avenue NW. The corps operates the aqueduct, which supplies drinking water to more than a million people in the District, Arlington County and the city of Falls Church.

"With these results, it's time for health officials, perchlorate polluters and food producers to stop stalling by saying we need more studies," said Renee Sharp, a senior analyst at EWG. "Rocket fuel is in our water, in vegetables, in milk. How much more evidence do we need?"

You go Renee!!

The FDA´s report is available online at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/clo4data.html and on this site. Click now to read it.

several online reports contributed to this story