{"id":1415764,"date":"2022-04-02T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1415764"},"modified":"2022-04-02T07:45:01","modified_gmt":"2022-04-02T11:45:01","slug":"epa-decides-not-to-regulate-chemical-linked-to-fetal-brain-damage-in-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/epa-decides-not-to-regulate-chemical-linked-to-fetal-brain-damage-in-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA Decides Not to Regulate Chemical Linked to Fetal Brain Damage in Drinking Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fepa-decides-not-to-regulate-chemical-linked-to-fetal-brain-damage-in-drinking-water%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1415764&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 31 announced that it will not regulate the chemical called\u00a0perchlorate in drinking water.<\/p>\n<p>Perchlorate is\u00a0widely used in rocket fuel and munitions, fertilizers, and is\u00a0also a component of fireworks and airbag initiators for vehicles, among other things.<\/p>\n<p>While it can\u00a0occur naturally, high concentrations have been found in at least 26 states, typically near\u00a0military bases and defense contractors in the U.S. West, particularly around Las Vegas and in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>Human exposure to high levels of the chemical has been linked to a deficiency of iodide in the thyroid and fetal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2017\/11\/20\/epas-latest-analysis-shows-perchlorate-risks-to-fetal-brain-development\/\">brain damage.<\/a>\u00a0A 2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25057878\/\">study<\/a> shows that babies born to mothers with high levels of perchlorate during their first trimester are more likely to have lower IQs later in life.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration in 2020 decided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-06\/documents\/10011-21-ow_perchlorate_frn_final.admin_prebpublication.pdf\">not to regulate\u00a0<\/a>perchlorate after determining that it did not appear in drinking water \u201cwith a frequency and at levels of public health concern\u201d and that regulating would not present a \u201cmeaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When he first took office, President Joe Biden\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/01\/20\/fact-sheet-list-of-agency-actions-for-review\/\">announced\u00a0<\/a>that his administration was launching a review of the\u00a0Trump-era decision not to regulate perchlorate.<\/p>\n<p>But EPA said on Thursday that it had concluded that the \u201c2020 decision is supported by the best available peer-reviewed science\u201d and thus would not be pursuing drinking water regulation at this time.<\/p>\n<p>However, it will \u201ccontinue to consider new information on the health effects and occurrence of perchlorate\u201d and will consider\u00a0if perchlorate should be added to future Contaminant Candidate Lists for possible regulation in the future.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Higher Chances\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Activists and environmental groups have called on officials to regulate perchlorate due to health concerns.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/\/Users\/kateroberts\/Downloads\/EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0780-0264_attachment_1.pdf\">pdf<\/a>)the EPA to set the \u201cstrongest possible\u201d\u00a0public health-based maximum contaminant level goal for the chemical, \u201cdue to the well-established harms of perchlorate ingestion for children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen drinking water or eating food contaminated by perchlorate, children receive higher relative doses than adults because of their lower body weights,\u201d\u00a0the organization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/document\/EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0780-0264\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen fetuses are exposed during pregnancy, perchlorate endangers a child\u2019s development. Children born with even mild, subclinical deficiencies in thyroid function may have lower IQs, higher chances of being diagnosed with attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and visuospatial difficulties,\u201d the organization wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Following Wednesday\u2019s announcement,\u00a0Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit international environmental advocacy group, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/media\/2022\/220331-1\">said<\/a> the EPA\u2019s decision not to protect\u00a0drinking water from widespread perchlorate contamination was \u201cunscientific, unlawful, and unconscionable,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Trump EPA gave perchlorate a pass; it was a bad decision then, and it\u2019s a bad decision now. Tap water across America will remain contaminated by this toxic chemical, which threatens the brain development of babies in the womb, infants, and young children at extremely low levels,\u201d\u00a0Olson said.<\/p>\n<p>While EPA said it would not be pursuing drinking water regulation of perchlorate at this time, it is \u201cpursuing multiple integrated actions to address perchlorate in the nation\u2019s waters\u201d and is taking a range of other actions such as cleaning up sites contaminated with\u00a0perchlorate and\u00a0protecting drinking water sources from future contamination.<\/p>\n<p>The EPA also noted that its decision does not impact any state standards for the chemical, as some states have set their own\u00a0limits for perchlorate in drinking water.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-katabella-roberts\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Katabella Roberts is a reporter currently based in Turkey. She covers news and business for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 31 announced that it will not regulate the chemical called\u00a0perchlorate in drinking water.Perchlorate is\u00a0widely used in rocket fuel and munitions, fertilizers, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1415764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1415764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1415764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1415764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1415764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}