News
EPA Delays Perchlorate Rule
03/19/2013
EPA announced at a conference of municipal water agencies yesterday (Mar. 18), that it is delaying the release of a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) for perchlorate pending review of final recommendations of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is scheduled to review its perchlorate panel’s latest report on Mar. 29th. The agency has already missed a two-year deadline (Feb. 2013) for publication of the MCLG. The SAB is recommending that EPA adopt a novel “pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic” approach to preparing the perchlorate MCLG in lieu of the agency’s traditional algebraic model in order to properly address potential health effects in fetuses and infants – the two groups most susceptible to harm from perchlorate exposures. That recommendation, the complex toxicological issues surrounding perchlorate and EPA’s determination to “get the science right” are likely contributing to the delay.