EPA Administrator Can't Document Claim Linking Autism to Drinking Water

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EPA Administrator Can't Document Claim Linking Autism to Drinking Water

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

By Penny Starr

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http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/epa-can-t-provide-documentation-supporti

EPA Administrator . (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – After Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

testified on Feb. 2 that regulating drinking water might help prevent

children from getting autism, CNSNews.com asked by e-mail whether she

could provide “any data, studies, documents, reports or other sources†to

confirm her claim. Her office subsequently stated there were “emerging

studies†but provided no evidence.

In an e-mail statement to CNSNews.com on Feb. 11, said there were

“emerging studies†that show a possible link between autism and

environmental factors. But repeated requests by e-mail and by telephone to the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking them to produce those studies or

other documentation to support her claim were not answered.

The Feb. 11 statement said, “We do not yet know enough about autism to

identify any specific environmental contaminants that are responsible. As EPA

Administrator, it is my job to make sure that the public's health is protected

from environmental toxins in the air we breathe, the water we drink and our

land. Science is an always evolving field, and will always guide EPA's

actions.â€

“Developmental disorders, including autism, hit close to home for many

Americans,†the statement said. “We have seen over the decade, the reported

prevalence of such developmental disorders rise.â€

“While the science is not evolved enough to explain that increase, some

emerging studies show a possible association between environmental exposures and

autism,†the statement continued. “Though we do not yet know enough about

autism to identify any specific environmental contaminants that are responsible,

EPA's job is to be on the forefront of protecting American's from such

threats.â€

As reported earlier by CNSNews.com, on Feb. 2 told the Senate Committee

on Public Works and the Environment that preventing children from being exposed

to contaminated water could spare them from having autism.

made the remark in response to questioning by Sen. Barrasso

(R-Wyo.), who asked if a recent executive order by President Barack Obama about

regulations and the regulatory process means that the EPA can put any rules in

place if “the benefits outweigh the costs.â€

“I think the president’s far-reaching executive order makes clear that there

are some things that are hard to price,†said. “Our science may be

good, but I don’t know how you price the ability to try to forestall a child

who may not get autism if they’re not exposed to contaminated water.â€

“And I think language in that order is about those things where we can be

protective for a reasonable amount of money,†said, “to make sure

our children and future generations are not guinea pigs.â€

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of

Health, autism is a disease that causes abnormal biology and chemistry in the

brain and that “the exact causes of these abnormalities remain unknown.â€

Obama’s Jan. 18 executive order said, in part, that each federal agency shall

“propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its

benefits justify its costs (recognizing that some benefits and costs are

difficult to quantify);â€