The Back Alley Archives

A little reality check for those of you who are so adamant about this, especially ones like "Adam" above:


By making a new Federal regulation on this, EVERY city, town, county, et cetera will have to test for perchlorates in drinking water. This would add up to billions of dollars in testing costs per year, for literally thousands of local and state governments that don't have risky amounts of perchlorates anywhere near their aquifers - and never will. The cost/benefit ratio is massive - in the wrong direction.


On the other hand, the few places that have measurable amounts of perchlorates in their water KNOW about the factories and ammo dumps that could possibly leach perchlorates into their drinking water - and can make their own regulations covering it. Most localities already have such laws, and the few that want Federal regulations in place are mostly looking for Federal money to pay for it.


The amount of perchlorate (25 parts per billion for a daily dose sustained over an whole lifetime of exposure) set as the official "limit" has fairly mild effects - temporary inhibition of the thyroid gland - and can be reversed by limiting intake (it doesn't store in the body). Nobody has actually demonstrated health effects from perchlorate exposure in a wide population anywhere in the US - only in very, VERY isolated cases of people who actually work with the stuff, or who live near places where it was spilled in massive amounts.


Note that the only places that have measured levels of over FIVE parts per billion in the US are associated with places that make rocket fuels or explosives - or places where they fire them (artillery ranges and the like, along with a small area in and around the Kennedy Space Center).


Adding this new regulation is pretty stupid, and only makes sense if you're looking to shut down the space program or the military.