Why Organic Milk, Lettuce and Bottled Water Can Be A Danger to You!

Thursday December 2, 2004

There's more bad news about perchlorate, the by-product of rocket fuel production that is contaminating water supplies around the country, and can, in certain quantities, cause a variety of health problems, including thyroid disease. Now, the government has found evidence of perchlorate contamination in common products like milk, lettuce and bottled water.

Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and manmade chemical. Naturally occurring perchlorate is found in nitrate fertilizer deposits in Chile. Most of the perchlorate manufactured in the United States is used as the primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant. Perchlorate is also used in pyrotechnics, such as fireworks, gun powder, explosives, and highway flares. In addition, perchlorate is used in a wide variety of industrial processes, including, but not limited to, tanning and leather finishing, rubber manufacture, paint and enamel production and additives in lubricating oils. In recent years there has been increasing interest in perchlorate levels in soil, ground water, drinking water, and irrigation water around the country and the health effects it has.

The FDA has recognized the potential for perchlorate contamination in food through the use of contaminated irrigation water, processing water, and source waters for bottling. In order to better understand the answers to these questions, the FDA began to evaluate perchlorate in a variety of foods.

They have now posted the initial data online, where Tables 1 and 2 show perchlorate levels in lettuce and bottled water samples. Table 3 shows perchlorate levels found in milk samples.

The FDA found that of the various food items it tested, iceberg lettuce grown in Belle Glade, Florida, had the highest concentrations of perchlorate. The greens had 71.6 parts per billion of the compound, the primary ingredient in solid rocket propellant. Red leaf lettuce grown in El Centro, California, had 52 ppb of perchlorate. Most of the purified, distilled and spring bottled water tested around the nation tested 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, Kevin Mayer, the EPA's regional perchlorate coordinator for Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, said, "The answer is, we don't know yet."

The EPA has said perchlorate could be a harm to people at levels of 1 ppb, but while no federal standard has yet been established, the FDA can require perchlorate cleanup if contamination levels reach 4 ppb. The state of California, has set a standard of no more than 6 ppb of perchlorate in drinking water. Federal agencies are currently trying to find out where perchlorate exposures are coming from, and what levels of perchlorate can be considered safe.