EPA to limit rocket fuel chemical in tap water

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is setting the first drinking water standard for a toxic rocket fuel ingredient linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women and young children, the Obama administration is to announce on Wednesday.

Perchlorate is also used in fireworks and explosives. In most cases, water contamination has been caused by improper disposal at rocket testing sites, military bases and chemical plants.

The article states that it could take up to 2 years to set a standard for an allowable amount of this chemical. 2 years, really?

In the meantime, drink up. Just don't stand near any open flames.


www.msnbc.msn.com...

why should there be a standard at all? that just means there's a certain amount of poison that is "acceptable".. disgusting the ethics of that....makes me real pissed

i live in downtown richmond, virginia and I can say i try to avoid drinking tap water as much as possible.
honestly, it smells like sulfur, is cloudy, tastes bad, is cloudy, it sucks. I've even resorted to taking a look at my tap water compared to a very healthy ionized water under a microscope. it wasn't a very very high magnification but i could see a difference....in the 'clean' water there were anomalies, little round disks. in the tap water were a similar amount of anomalies, but they were square and much more sharp and angular than the 'clean' water's stuff.

reply to post by metalshredmetal


Agreed. The "standard" should be ZERO. Makes you wonder what else they allow. I think I would rather not know what they classify as acceptable in our drinking water.

we should line up all of our "leaders" and make them drink the tap water....and watch their reactions. Like lisa simpson did in the simpson movie

while we're at it, lets make up some genetically modified corn tortillas and host a taco party for them!!! (using 35% beef of course)

Originally posted by BadBoYeed
we should line up all of our "leaders" and make them drink the tap water....and watch their reactions. Like lisa simpson did in the simpson movie

while we're at it, lets make up some genetically modified corn tortillas and host a taco party for them!!! (using 35% beef of course)

It's disturbing to me that it will take two years for them to establish a standard. Simply put, they are going to allow this chemical to remain in our drinking water, probably follow some poor child for his/her first two years of life and see what side effects it causes.

Okay, no more rocket fuel in my drinking water.

Where the hell am I supposed to get my rocket fuel now??????

Sorry, I read the rest of it now. I see I have two years to stock up.

reply to post by IamAbeliever


Democrats, who have pushed for the EPA to regulate perchlorate, say the decision shows the administration standing up for rules that protect public health, even if they burden business. President Barack Obama recently announced a review of all regulations to reduce barriers to economic growth and investment.
The perchlorate standard is eight years in the making. In 2002, an EPA draft risk assessment found that 1 part per billion should be considered safe. Six years later, the Bush administration decided not to regulate the chemical, instead recommending that concentrations not exceed 15 parts per billion. At the time, federal scientists estimated that 16.6 million Americans could be exposed to unsafe levels through their drinking water.
California and Massachusetts in the meantime have set state-level drinking water standards.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has sponsored legislation to require the EPA to set a standard, said in a statement Wednesday that she was pleased the government was "finally going to protect our families from perchlorate." California has the most water supplies affected — 58, according to the 2001-05 data. Many of the others are in Texas.
"I will do everything I can to make sure this new protection moves forward," Boxer said.
Pentagon officials have spent years questioning the EPA's assessment of perchlorate's risk but have denied influencing the agency's decisions. The military could face liability for tainting water during rocket and missile testing, since the standard will force water agencies around the country to clean up the pollution.

Originally posted by butcherguy
Okay, no more rocket fuel in my drinking water.

Where the hell am I supposed to get my rocket fuel now??????

Sorry, I read the rest of it now. I see I have two years to stock up.

edit on 2-2-2011 by butcherguy because: (no reason given)

haha damn you're right...luckily you can walk into a wal-mart and find it in everything! .... i mean :

Originally posted by oibena
reply to post by IamAbeliever

 

Democrats, who have pushed for the EPA to regulate perchlorate, say the decision shows the administration standing up for rules that protect public health, even if they burden business. President Barack Obama recently announced a review of all regulations to reduce barriers to economic growth and investment.
The perchlorate standard is eight years in the making. In 2002, an EPA draft risk assessment found that 1 part per billion should be considered safe. Six years later, the Bush administration decided not to regulate the chemical, instead recommending that concentrations not exceed 15 parts per billion. At the time, federal scientists estimated that 16.6 million Americans could be exposed to unsafe levels through their drinking water.
California and Massachusetts in the meantime have set state-level drinking water standards.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has sponsored legislation to require the EPA to set a standard, said in a statement Wednesday that she was pleased the government was "finally going to protect our families from perchlorate." California has the most water supplies affected — 58, according to the 2001-05 data. Many of the others are in Texas.
"I will do everything I can to make sure this new protection moves forward," Boxer said.
Pentagon officials have spent years questioning the EPA's assessment of perchlorate's risk but have denied influencing the agency's decisions. The military could face liability for tainting water during rocket and missile testing, since the standard will force water agencies around the country to clean up the pollution.

this is analogous to saying that pushing people in front of traffic isn't that bad because a few people can dodge and avoid the cars, not everyone will be harmed. the system itself is flawed. all you must do is stop pushing people into traffic and noone will be harmed in the first place.

it just so happens that when things work under a faulty system, there are loop holes like this ridiculous allowing of a certain amount of poisons into our water...WHY NOT ALLOW NO POISONS? it's because of money.

The EPA... ick.. bunch'a liars and corrupt people.

Would be interesting to see an actual break-down of all the stuff in the water supplies across the country..

Rocket fuel additive. really? This shouldn't even be IN the water to begin with.. Ahh the joy of a company trying to save a few dollars.

/sigh on a side-note:

The REAL scary thing is, bottled water, has even LESS standards then tap-water. And in most cases, the bottled water your drinking is nothing more then re-filtered tap water.

There are some bottled-waters that do advertise they are Reverse-osmoses and or Distilled. But the rest.. Municipal water supply.

Read the label.. You may be surprised.

Then again, it's all propaganda and lies. Only way to be sure would be to do your own tests on your water-source and find out what your ingesting.

Originally posted by Cygnis
The EPA... ick.. bunch'a liars and corrupt people.

Would be interesting to see an actual break-down of all the stuff in the water supplies across the country..

Rocket fuel additive. really? This shouldn't even be IN the water to begin with.. Ahh the joy of a company trying to save a few dollars.

/sigh on a side-note:

The REAL scary thing is, bottled water, has even LESS standards then tap-water. And in most cases, the bottled water your drinking is nothing more then re-filtered tap water.

There are some bottled-waters that do advertise they are Reverse-osmoses and or Distilled. But the rest.. Municipal water supply.

Read the label.. You may be surprised.

Then again, it's all propaganda and lies. Only way to be sure would be to do your own tests on your water-source and find out what your ingesting.

i feel this could be true, I met someone who recommended a documentary: Flow, For The Love Of Water.
supposedly reveals that big big water companies like Dasani and Aquafina actually go to 3rd world countries to gather and bottle water...1. because they're megalomaniac about money, and it's cheaper. 2. the health standards are much lower there so they can get away with not spending their precious money on sanitizing things the way they should be..

Yum. Nothing like a big glass of rocket fuel in the morning to get you going, huh? What the deuce!
As previous posters have correctly stated, there should be no perchlorate in drinking water - none. Zip. Nada. Zero. Zilch. The Empty Set.

I mean... it's not rocket science.

Bush administration passed a law that allows natural gass extraction companies to pour chemicals into the ground which in turn leak into the water supply (rivers/drinking water what have you)

See fracking.

These same chemicals any ordinary human would pour into the water main or any where with "water" you would be arrested possible tried for weapon of mass destruction.

But if you want to make money out of it go right ahead and do it.

Thank you Bush. You dummies voted him in 2 times.

Well thank goodness for that.

I can't talk about this anymore.

Don't drink the water people.