Get PERCHLORATE CONTAINING PRODUCTS

People can be exposed to perchlorate by drinking water, milk, and by eating certain plants with high water content (e.g., lettuce) if those plants have taken up water containing perchlorate.

Perchlorates are found in some consumer products that people use. They are present in highway and marine signal flares, small fireworks, gunpowder, and matches.

Based on this newer information and analysis presented in the proposed rule, EPA withdrew the 2011 regulatory determination and issued a determination not to regulate perchlorate in July 2020.

Perchlorate can be manufactured and used as an industrial chemical and can be found in rocket propellant, explosives, fireworks and road flares. It has also been found in some public drinking water systems and in food.

Perchlorate (ClO4–) is both naturally occurring and a man-made contaminant that is increasingly found in groundwater, surface water and soil. Most perchlorate manufactured in the U.S. is used as an oxidizer in solid fuel for rockets and missiles.

The 2008 – 2012 dataset contained higher average levels of perchlorate in some foods such as bologna, salami, and collard greens, and lower average levels of perchlorate in other foods such as plain bagels, boxed macaroni and cheese, and milk chocolate, when compared to the 2005 – 2006 dataset.

Perchlorate occurs naturally in arid states in the Southwest United States, in nitrate fertilizer deposits in Chile, and in potash ore in the United States and Canada. It also forms naturally in the atmosphere.

Based on this newer information and analysis presented in the proposed rule, EPA withdrew the 2011 regulatory determination and issued a determination not to regulate perchlorate in July 2020.