Republican EPA Says Perchlorate Is Extremely Harmful But Refuses to Protect Us From It Because Donors Told Them So

EPA stands for Environmental Protection Agency.  That middle world "Protection" is an interesting choice.  Presumably it was intended to protect we the people, the greater good for society, and so on.  It's been clear for decades, but never more so than right now, that Republican's think it's protection of corporations and their profits.  And Americans die as a result.

A new E.P.A. policy on perchlorate, which is used in rocket fuel, would revoke a 2011 finding that the chemical should be regulated.  E.P.A. intends... to declare it is “not in the public interest” to regulate the chemical.

The Trump administration will not impose any limits on perchlorate, a toxic chemical compound that contaminates water and has been linked to fetal and infant brain damage.

The decision by Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the E.P.A., appears to defy a court order that required the agency to establish a safe drinking-water standard for the chemical by the end of June.

The policy, which acknowledges that exposure to high levels of perchlorate can cause I.Q. damage but opts nevertheless not to limit it, could also set a precedent for the regulation of other chemicals....

It's tough to carry on with this post after reading that language in bold above.  What else is there to say really?  Well, just that Republicans side with their corporate donors while Democrats side with the people who live in this country.

The chemical — which is used in rocket fuel, among other applications — has been under study for more than a decade...  In 2011, the Obama administration announced that it planned to regulate perchlorate for the first time.... But the Defense Department and military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have waged aggressive efforts to block controls, and the fight has dragged on.

The new policy will revoke the 2011 E.P.A. finding that perchlorate presents serious health risks to between 5 million and 16 million people and should be regulated. 

The decision is the latest in a string of Trump administration regulatory actions that weaken toxic chemical regulations, often against the advice of E.P.A.’s own experts, in ways favored by the chemical industry.  Last year the administration announced it would not ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that its own experts linked to serious health problems in children.

This should be shocking.  Instead, reading this is like opening up the Republican playbook for the millionth time.  Disgusting.

Perchlorate can occur naturally, but high concentrations have been found in at least 26 states, often near military installations where it has been used as an additive in rocket fuel, making propellants more reliable. Research has shown that by interfering with the thyroid gland’s iodine uptake, perchlorate can stunt the production of hormones essential to the development of fetuses, infants and children.

“This is all of a piece,” said Rena Steinzor, a law professor at the University of Maryland. “You can draw a line between denial of science on climate change, denial of science on coronavirus, and denial of science in the drinking water context. It’s all the same issue. They’re saying ‘We don’t care what the research says.’”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/trump-drinking-water-perchlorate.html