Rocket fuel component found in baby formula
Jacksonville – Government researchers published findings this week that show a chemical component of rocket fuel, perchlorate, has been found in all 15 of the major brands of baby formula they tested. The report, published in the March 2009 issue of Nature’s “Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology” showed that although the perchlorate levels found were within the safe range as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, there may be some concern for infants and children. As many as 35 US States have been found to have perchlorate in their drinking water, and it has been also been found in vegetables, cows milk, and according to one study, human breast milk. Perchlorate in ground water flows into grass that the cows eat, and thereby is passed along into milk.
It is not known in full why perchlorates are found in ground water. The chemical can be naturally occurring, as well as found in places where rocket fuel has been disposed. Perchlorate is found naturally in large amounts in the soil of the Atacama Desert of Chile. In the late 19th century nitrates from the Atacama Desert, so called Chile saltpeter, were used extensively in the US as a crop fertilizer. Along with sodium nitrate, perchlorate is also found in this fertilizer, and may be the source of some of the perchlorate found in the environment today.
Perchlorate has various medical and industrial applications. Medically, it is used as a thyroid regulator. This is the basis of the most concern over perchlorate in the environment. While the amounts are small and deemed safe by the EPA, some scientists and public health experts are concerned about the effects of perchlorate on babies and children, since their bodies are smaller, developing, and can rely in large part on single food sources such as baby formula for their nutrition.
Perchlorate has other industrial uses such as in hot/cold packs, gunpowder, and fireworks. In 2008 NASA reported that soil samples from Mars may show that perchlorate is found in the Martian soil. Studies have shown that perchlorate, which seems to only affect the thyroid gland, only has an immediate effect and not a long term effect. It is neither stored in the body or metabolized. It is believed that any effects of perchlorate on the thyroid gland would stop occuring once exposure stops. Therefore as long as perchlorate levels are within a true safe zone they should pose no threat to public health. However the concern remains that if this chemical is found in baby formula as well as the drinking water used to mix the baby formula, the amount could be large enough to have an effect on an infant’s thyroid function.
New EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, confirmed in January, has stated that the organization will take another look at the safety of perchlorate.
