UNITED STATES: Arsenic from your tap

May 23, 2001
Issue 

BY RACHEL MASSEY

US President George W Bush has canceled a health regulation that would have reduced allowable levels of arsenic in US drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arsenic in drinking water causes cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and prostate in humans. Arsenic in drinking water is also linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anaemia, and disorders of the immune, nervous and reproductive systems.

Recent evidence suggests that arsenic even at very low levels equivalent to 10 ppb in water interferes with hormones, making it a potent endocrine disrupter.

The current US arsenic standard of 50 ppb was adopted in 1942. After a decade of study and public review of scientific evidence, the EPA proposed the stricter standard while Bill Clinton was president. Bush reversed the EPA's decision shortly after taking office.

Arsenic appears in two forms, organic and inorganic; in general, the inorganic form is more dangerous. Inorganic arsenic occurs naturally in some locales. In addition, at least 2700 tonnes of arsenic is released into the US environment each year by mining, coal burning, copper and lead smelting, wood-preserving treatments, municipal incinerators and the use of certain pesticides.

According to EPA, at least 11 million people in the US currently drink water contaminated with arsenic at levels above 10 ppb.

The 10 ppb arsenic standard would have put the US squarely in the mainstream. In 1993, the World Health Organisation set 10 ppb as the recommended limit for arsenic in drinking water. The 15-nation European Union adopted 10 ppb as a mandatory standard for arsenic in drinking water in 1998.

The EPA estimated that cutting allowable arsenic from 50 to 10 ppb would prevent 1000 bladder cancers and 2000 to 5000 lung cancers during a human lifetime.

Bush's decision may have something to do with his ties to the coal industry. Burning coal is a major source of arsenic contamination. Many landfills contain arsenic-laden ash produced by coal-burning power plants. Arsenic is likely to leak out of these landfills, contaminating groundwater.

Coal companies were major contributors to Bush's election campaign and he recently announced he was abandoning his campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and has turned his back on the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to combat global warming.

The wood products industry, which uses arsenic to pressure-treat lumber, also stands to benefit from unsafe arsenic standards. A representative of the American Wood Preservers Institute said members of his organisation were "relieved and delighted" by Bush's decision.

The EPA spent 10 years studying the dangers of arsenic in a public process before proposing the 10 ppb standard. The Bush administration now says the science behind the 10 ppb standard is "unclear".

Furthermore, the Bush EPA questions whether the Clinton administration "fully understood" the costs of reducing arsenic contamination, even though the Clinton EPA published detailed cost estimates for public review and comment.

[Rachel Massey is a consultant to Environmental Research Foundation. Reprinted from Rachel's Environment and Health News. Like Green Left Weekly, Rachel's is a non-profit publication which distributes information without charge on the internet and depends on the generosity of readers to survive. If you are able to help keep this valuable resource in existence, send your contribution to Environmental Research Foundation, PO Box 5036, Annapolis, Maryland 21403-7036, USA. In the United States, donations to ERF are tax deductible.]

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