The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is accepting public comments on the proposed new standard for hexavalent chromium until February 15th.
I sent this letter to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
I sent this letter to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
Post Office Box 4010
Sacramento, CA 95812-4010.
Feel free to copy and send yourself.
Save paper and time:
The discovery of hexavalent chromium in the drinking water systems of 32 major cities around the United States, including San Jose, Los Angeles and Riverside, lends urgency to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's effort to finalize a Public Health Goal for this cancer-causing chemical. This known human carcinogen does not belong in our drinking water, and it is critically important for California to move forward quickly to finalize a Public Health Goal so that a legally enforceable standard can be put in place to protect public health.
Your agency's assessment of hexavalent chromium is of high caliber and is scientifically sound. The decision to incorporate an additional safety factor to protect infants and children marks this revised draft as more health-protective for Californians than the prior draft.
Your agency correctly based the health assessment on the best available science from the National Toxicology Program, and made realistic and reasonable assumptions to protect children and adults from this toxic substance. It was correct for you to reject the industry argument that there is somehow a threshold below which this pollutant does not cause cancer -- no evidence for such a threshold exists and it would be inappropriate to delay a drinking water standard to wait for any such evidence to materialize. Drinking water contamination with this chemical is a serious health hazard and requires immediate attention and action.
The California legislature required that the state finalize an enforceable drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium by January 1, 2004. This Public Health Goal is more than seven years overdue, and I urge you to finalize it promptly in order to allow a legally enforceable standard to be set.
Saori! I’m not entirely sure you’ll remember me. Took classes at Mt. Sac together waaay back when. The last I heard from you was a few years back. I don’t know what brought you to mind, but I pretty much went stir crazy trying to find you.
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