Baby Formula Rocket Fuel – Traces of a rocket fuel chemical were found in powdered baby formula samples in a CDC study.
The baby formula rocket fuel study by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula.
It was published last month, but the Environmental Working Group issued a press release Thursday drawing attention to it.
The chemical has turned up in several cities’ drinking water supplies. It can occur naturally, but most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites.
No tests have ever shown the chemical caused health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of perchlorate can affect thyroid function. The thyroid helps set the body’s metabolism. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.
However, the extent of the risk is hard to assess. The government requires that formula contain iodine, which counteracts perchlorate’s effects. The size of the infant and how much formula they consume are other factors that can influence risk.
The study itself sheds little light on how dangerous the perchlorate in baby formula is. “This wasn’t a study of health effects,” said Dr. Joshua Schier, one of the authors.
The largest amounts of the chemical were in formulas derived from cow’s milk, the study said.
The researchers would not disclose the brands of formula they studied. Only a few samples were studied, so it’s hard to know if the perchlorate levels would be found in all containers of those brands, a CDC spokesman said.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was considering setting new limits on the amount of perchlorate that would be acceptable in drinking water. A few states have already set their own limits.
The EPA has checked nearly 4,000 public water supplies serving 10,000 people or more. About 160 of the water systems had detectable levels of perchlorate, and 31 had levels high enough to exceed a new safety level the EPA is considering.
And that’s the latest on Baby Formula Rocket Fuel.
Tags: baby, baby formula, baby formula recall, baby formula rocket fuel, baby launching video, recall
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
At higher doses perchlorate and iodide SHARE immunotoxic effects because they are chaotropic (see iododerma, bromoderma, bromism), so increasing the dose of iodide in the infant formula is not likely to be the solution. Chaotropic anions keep proteins from coagulating and water from freezing — thus the liquid water on Mars stays liquid at very cold temperatures because it contains large amounts of perchlorate. I personally think industrial exposures to perchlorate keep important parts of the innate immune system (pentraxin 3, defensins) from coagulating with pathogens, and thereby increase the incidence of CD34+ tumors (thyroid, connective tissue) due to mutation-promoting viruses (e.g. high incidence of malignant nerve sheath tumors around the Whittaker Bermite rocket plant in Santa Clarita CA.) If pendrin is the primary means of excreting perchlorate through the urine, then premature infants and babies with diarrhea will retain perchlorate.
Perchlorate in drinking water, and perchlorate-rich items like opuntia cactus (nopales) and chew tobacco, need to be regulated. http://www.perchlorate.org
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:16 am
Were did you find these informations?