Whitman Wants More Study and More Arsenic
Posted September 20, 2001 at the thepeoplesvoice.org

By the EDITOR

A new study by an EPA advisory panel knocks the legs out from under the Bush administration's primary excuse for revoking the Clinton Administrations standard for arsenic levels in drinking water. The panel agreed that the Clinton administration had actually done a "credible job" of calculating low costs when they ordered the reduction of arsenic in drinking water by 80%. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman rescinded the standard and launched a review. She stated that the previous administration had not adequately considered the costs and benefits of the new standard. Christie Whitman also wants "more study" of the effects of deadly arsenic.

Whitman's decision speaks volumes about the Bush administrations lack of concern for human life and it raises serious questions about the character of the people in the administration. Even with new evidence proving the Clinton standards are cheap and easy to implement, the Bush administration refuses to reinstate them. Instead they have decided to put off doing anything until fall allowing the continued corporate arsenic poisoning of the American people.

The Safe Drinking Water Act required the EPA to consider costs and benefits when they established maximum levels for toxins in tap water at 10-parts-per-billion. Whitman ordered separate reviews in the cost and benefit analyses the agency had made. Whitman also asked the National Academy of Sciences to update its assessment of the appropriate arsenic levels in drinking water, buying more time for corporations to rake in profits without regulations. A previous study by the National Academy of Sciences found that drinking and bathing in tap water "could easily" result in one person out of every 100 developing cancer. It will take precious time for the EPA staff and outside specialists to evaluate the suggestions in the three reports ordered by Whitman and millions of Americans will continue to be exposed to cancer causing Arsenic.

Arsenic Drinking Water Standard Issued November 1, 2001
After Seven-Month Scientific Review, EPA Backs Clinton-Established Levels By Edward Walsh Washington Post Staff Writer Seven months after it set off a political firestorm by suspending the Clinton administration's toughened standard for acceptable levels of naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it is adopting the same standard of 10 parts arsenic per billion parts water. In a letter to key congressional appropriations committee members announcing the decision, Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the standard "will improve the safety of drinking water for millions of Americans and better protect against the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes." washingtonpost.com