Military Waste In Our Drinking Water

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

By Sunaura Taylor and Astra Taylor
Alternet

http://alternet.org/envirohealth/39723/

<snip>

Last week a study was released by the National Academy of Sciences, raising already substantial concerns about the cancer risks and other health hazards associated with exposure to TCE, a solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers that is also "widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and to clean fuel lines at missile sites." The report confirms a 2001 EPA document linking TCE to kidney cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, impaired neurological function, autoimmune disease and other ailments in human beings.

The report has been garnering some publicity, but not as much as it deserves. TCE contamination is disturbingly common, especially in the air, soil and water around military bases. Nationwide millions of Americans are using what Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, D-NY, has called "TCE-laden drinking water." The Associated Press reports that the chemical has been found at about 60 percent of the nation's worst contaminated sites in the Superfund cleanup program.

"The committee found that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001," the study says. "Hundreds of waste sites are contaminated with trichloroethylene, and it is well-documented that individuals in many communities are exposed to the chemical, with associated health risks."

The report urges the EPA to amend its assessment of the threat TCE poses, an action that could lead to stricter regulations. Currently the EPA limits TCE to no more than five parts per billion parts of drinking water. Stricter regulation could force the government to require more thorough cleanups at military and other sites and lower the number to one part per billion...

[Pierre.Suave]

1. Great...

What will they do to us next?

[halobeam]

2. Unfortunately, you'll get that answer.

[flamin lib]

3. I live near what was once General Dynamics assembly plant for

the F-16. It's on the north side of Ft Worth, TX. Lake Worth is so polluted that people aren't even supposed to swim in it much less eat a fish caught there.

The military is exempt from any EPA standards.

[Karenina]

4. ASPARTAME

Military waste in your soda pop and chewing gum.