Tim Willert
A University of California study that led state health officials to
lift the public-health goal for chromium in drinking water might have
been compromised by scientists who were paid by corporations to
manipulate the results.
A hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee today
in Los Angeles will address allegations that research by about a
half-dozen scientists was tainted by corporate interests. Among the
interests were companies targeted by the Environmental Protection
Agency for groundwater pollution and cleanup.
"What we do know is that quite a bit of the report was compiled by
industry-paid scientists," said Jack Hailey, a state health committee
administrator. "It looks like the process was tampered with."
The allegations were made by a lawyer representing 600 people in a
class-action lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric. The plaintiffs
are claiming illnesses due to groundwater contamination, Hailey said.
Hailey said he didn't know the names of the companies that
allegedly tampered with the study, but added they were primarily
manufacturing companies that used chromium 6 in their operations.
In November 2001, the California EPA's Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment lifted the state's public-health goal of 2.5
parts per billion for chromium in drinking water after the UC Berkley
study showed no basis for considering ingested chromium 6 a
carcinogen.
Agency officials determined that until a new standard for
allowable levels of the heavy metal in drinking water was
established, the state standard for chromium in the water -- 50
parts per billion -- would be considered "health protective."
The Glendale City Council, concerned about public anxiety over
chromium 6, adopted its own policy regarding heavy metal in its
drinking water -- no more than 1 part per billion.
But in December 2001, the council voted to relax the city's
standards from 1 to 3 parts per billion under pressure from San
Fernando Valley Water Master Mel Blevins. Blevins took the city to
court for dumping treated ground water into the Los Angeles River. A
month later, the council voted to again relax chromium levels, this
time from 3 parts to 6 parts per billion, to avoid further legal
action.
Don Froelich, water and services administrator for Glendale Water
and Power, will be among those attending today's hearing, which
begins at 11:30 a.m. in Room 381B of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of
Administration, 500 W. Temple St.
"The allegations are new to me," Froelich said Thursday. "If they
are true, we would wait for guidance from the state Department of
Health Services and the EPA on whether to continue to deliver this
water to customers."
State senators, including Sen. Jack Scott (D-Glendale) will
participate in the hearing, which is expected to include testimony
from consumer groups, scientists familiar with the report and
representatives from the University of California and the state EPA.
Community activist and chromium 6 crusader Erin Brockovich will be
the first to testify.
"The public needs to be secure that its water is safe and clean to
drink," Scott released in a statement. "It is critical that we
establish water standards based on unbiased information."
