Dear editor:
Your recent news article on California perchlorate legislation
(Oct. 2, by Peter Crowley) seriously misleads your readers about
the hazards of perchlorate. By Webster’s definitions, perchlorate
is neither toxic nor a toxin. The danger in a substance is a matter
of the amount, not the substance.
Dear editor:
Your recent news article on California perchlorate legislation (Oct. 2, by Peter Crowley) seriously misleads your readers about the hazards of perchlorate. By Webster’s definitions, perchlorate is neither toxic nor a toxin. The danger in a substance is a matter of the amount, not the substance.
Common table salt, and all the nutritional mineral supplements like iron, zinc, selenium, and numerous other substances are all toxic in large amounts. At the concentrations of perchlorate in local ground water, in lettuce, and in milk, perchlorate is neither toxic nor dangerous.
It is well established that very large amounts of perchlorate will inhibit thyroid function. It also appears established by the medical community that thyroid deficiencies in infants can impair mental development. But it is more than a big leap to suggest that trace amounts of perchlorate will cause developmental problems in infants. That is an opinion not shared by all, and does not belong laced into a factual news article. It belongs on your opinion page.
Why is this important? Because the only proven damage done by perchlorate in this area has been to real estate values. And that has been almost entirely due to the hysteria and anxiety caused by misleading news(?) articles fanning unfounded fears about perchlorate contamination. Crying “fire” in a theater is recognized as unacceptable, even criminal. People can get hurt. There is a great similarity here in promoting misinformation that hurts people’s property values.
R. M. Peekema, (chemist, retired), San Jose
Submitted Wednesday, Oct. 8 to ed****@****ic.com
