 California Gov. Signs Bill to Make Sure Drinking
Water is Safe for Kids
Under New Law, Calif. Standards Must Consider
Risks to Children
OAKLAND - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law
groundbreaking legislation, sponsored by EWG, to ensure that
California's drinking water standards are strong enough to protect
children.
Assembly Bill 2342, carried by Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson
(D-Santa Barbara) and sponsored by the Environmental Working Group
(EWG), requires Cal-EPA to give special consideration to infants and
children and other sensitive populations when reviewing and revising
public health goals (PHGs) for drinking water. PHGs, which are
formulated by the state Office of Environmental Health Assessment,
are the scientific basis for setting California drinking water
standards.
The bill passed with unusually strong bipartisan support in both
houses of the Legislature. For the first time, it directs state
health officials to use infants' body weight and water consumption
levels in setting drinking water health goals.
In the last decade, extensive research has shown that infants and
children are far from being just smaller versions of adults. Not
only do children often metabolize compounds differently than adults,
taking significantly longer to clear toxins out of their bodies,
they are more susceptible to long-term damage since toxins can
interfere with proper brain and organ development.
Infants and children are also exposed daily to greater amounts of
drinking water contaminants because they drink several times more
water in proportion to their body weight. Despite the clear evidence
that children need more protective standards, more than eighty
percent of the state's drinking water risk assessments have used the
average body weight of an adult male - about 180 pounds - in their
calculations.
"This is a big step forward in protecting California's children
from toxic chemicals in drinking water," said EWG Analyst Renee
Sharp, who provided extensive input and testimony on the bill, and
rallied support from more than a dozen environmental and public
health groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In addition to requiring the state to use infant body weight and
drinking water consumption rates in its health risk assessments, AB
2342 encourages the agency to prioritize review and revision of
contaminants that pose health threats to children. AB 2342 also
directs the agency to consider the effects of exposure to multiple
contaminants in developing drinking water standards.
Copyright 2004, Environmental Working Group. |
