It's Not Only Rocket Science
| Author | Andrew Rak |
| Position | Manager within Noblis's Center for Sustainability. Noblis is a nonprofit science, technology, and strategy organization based in Falls Church, Virginia |
| Pages | 38-42 |
Page 38 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.
Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, May/June 2010
co v e r sT o r y
The ongoing debate over the potential
health effects from exposure to low levels
of perchlorate is overshadowing an equal-
ly important dialogue on the sources of
contamination. Perchlorate first became
a headline concern when it was discovered that it
entered the environment from rocket fuel and mu-
nitions at Department of Defense sites — seem-
ingly just another legacy of the Cold War — but
it can also be found in fertilizer, bleach, fireworks,
road flares, and blasting compounds. It can be
present as an ingredient or impurity in lubricating
oils, matches, and automotive airbag deployment
initiators. It is associated with aluminum, rubber,
dye, and paint manufacturing, leather tanning,
and pulp processing. Solutions used in water and
wastewater treatment plants for disinfection have
also been identified as a potential problem.
While some research has addressed the rela-
tive importance of multiple sources, the percep-
tion that military activities are the overwhelming
contributor to the environment may be hindering
appropriate and effective regulation. While per-
fect knowledge about the sources of perchlorate is
unobtainable, continuing to focus solely on a few
point sources will not adequately spur effective
public health regulation.
Extensive toxicological studies have been un-
dertaken related to the potential health risks from
exposure to perchlorate, including a National Re-
search Council review of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency’s toxicity assessment. e chemical
may pose a health risk if taken up by the thyroid,
where it disrupts the production of hormones and
affects metabolism and neurodevelopment. But
toxicity is only part of a risk-based approach to
public health. As the NRC famously declared in
1983 in the Red Book — more properly “Risk As-
sessment in the Federal Government: Managing
the Process” — only by combining toxicity data
with information about the sources of exposure to
a contaminant can a thorough risk-based approach
be constructed. In other words, the same scientific
rigor and expertise applied to the investigation of
a chemical’s toxicity should be applied to the iden-
tification of sources that lead to significant expo-
sures.
A thorough examination of the sources of expo-
sure to perchlorate has not been completed, and
this lack of knowledge hinders attempts by regu-
latory agencies to provide an effective risk-based
approach for protecting public health. rough an
It’s Not Only
Rocket Science
e perchlorate story follows the arc
of other major controversial chemical
management challenges, such as dioxin,
where the initial focus on end-of-
pipe controls missed key sources in the
environment
By Andrew Rak
Andrew Rak is a M ana ger w ith in
No bli s’s C ente r fo r Sus ta inab ili ty.
Noblis is a nonpro t science, technology,
and s trategy org anization based in Falls
Church, Virgini a.
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