Hi all!
I just received this article, EPA Responds to Scientists’ Concerns about Low Dose Hormones, stating that the EPA will begin to study low dose effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals. It is just a first step, but an incredibly important one. This can represent a sea change in how toxicity is assessed and may be the beginning of the end for the theory that the “dose makes the poison”.
It’s impact on practices such as irrigation with wastewater, just one of thousands (or much more) of the practices this might affect, can become monumental. In the instance of irrigation, acknowledgment of the problem would not necessarily do away with the practice, but would force much more fine tuned attention to the way it is done. For instance, keeping runoff away from creeks and not allowing “occasional runoff of over spray” would be an important first step.
It could hopefully be the beginning of a new day. By the way, Dr. Vandenberg, who was mentioned in the article, was the person who wrote a letter to the CA State Water Board on the Recycled Water Policy Amendment that had wrongly determined that monitoring of endocrine disrupting chemicals for irrigation of landscapes with tertiary wastewater was not necessary.
Brenda