Among the Bush administration’s final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.
Why? Why the hell would he do this?
…a chemical found mostly in jet rocket fuel and detected in 35 states and 153 water public water systems. It is known to lower thyroid hormone levels in women; it poses a particular threat to pregnant women and breast-feeding children, whose long-term neurological development can be stunted by youthful hormone imbalances.
Jet fuel. Surely this is military issue, no? Yes!
New Mexico is home to several prominent military testing facilities, and has the highest average perchlorate exposures in the country.
I wrote an entire chapter (“What’s the Matter with Zanesville, Ohio”) about how the Bushies love to scare the piss out of us using a wide variety of toe-monsters under our bed, and so we end up fearing ghosts that don’t exist while actual threats invade our houses and our bodies every day. And these threats are literally encouraged by our leaders.
In this case, a known poison is being deregulated in order to facilitate a military that’s tasked with protecting us.
