“This announcement spells out why we can no longer wait for perchlorate to be removed from our drinking water supplies,” Soto said. “Governor Schwarzenegger should expedite the process for setting a real state standard for perchlorate contamination so that the people of California are no longer at risk of consuming dangerous levels of rocket fuel.” 

The study, authored by researchers at the Texas Tech University Institute of Environmental and Human Health and published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, found perchlorate in the breast milk of nursing woman at an average level of 10.5 parts per billion and at a peak level of 92 parts per billion.  The National Academy of Sciences recently recommended a “reference dose” of 24.5 parts-per-billion as safe – a figure adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week – but the figure is a reference to consumption by a 154-pound adult male, not infants. 

Perchlorate has been leaked into the drinking water supplies of an estimated 16 million Californians, as well as millions more nationwide, through storage and disposal by the Department of Defense, military contractors, and manufacturers of road signal flares and fireworks.

The State of California is currently considering adopting a drinking water standard for perchlorate at six parts-per-billion, a figure that while better than those dose recommended by the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. E.P.A., would nevertheless excuse a number of parties responsible for contaminating the Colorado River as well as countless drinking water wells across the state.  Last month, a coalition of environmental, public health and community groups asked the Schwarzenegger Administration to work towards setting a state safety standard for perchlorate at one part-per-billion to infants and pregnant women. 

“The jury is not yet in on what a safe standard for perchlorate should be, but we should not compromise one bit when it comes to protecting our little ones,” Senator Soto said. “How can anyone sleep knowing that a mother’s milk may be contaminated with rocket fuel? Governor Schwarzenegger has been an ally on this issue so far, and I encourage him to expedite the process of setting a safe standard as well as forcing polluters to clean up this chemical which puts too many vulnerable people at risk.”