EPA stays mum on aluminum - Environmental Protection Agency; aluminum levels in drinking water - In the News - Environment - Column

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1995 by Amy O'Connor

Canadian environmental officials will meet with their counterparts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this month in an effort to convince them that aluminum sulfate, or alum, a coagulant added to drinking water to remove bacteria, poses a potentially serious health risk. But the EPA doesn't plan to listen too closely-the agency says there is "no chance" that the current standard for aluminum in U.S. water will be revised.

Although the EPA considers research linking aluminum in drinking water to Alzheimer's disease and brain damage to be inadequate, the Canadian government considers the evidence conclusive. "Working on a precautionary principle, we believe there are reasons to limit aluminum added to drinking water, though we concede there is no dear evidence that human health has been harmed," says Barry Thomas, Ph.D., head of the criteria section of Health Canada's Environmental Health Directorate. Thomas, who initiated the upcoming meeting, recently announced that Canada is developing strict new guidelines limiting aluminum in drinking water that may be adopted next spring.

Since 1989, 15 studies in Canadian, Australian, American and European medical journals have linked high levels of aluminum in drinking water with increased incidences of Alzheimer's, a neurodegenerative disease that afflicts the elderly. The research implicates man-made alum because it has been shown to damage neurons in the brains of rats. Naturally occurring aluminum, the research finds, binds with silicon and may not enter the bloodstream as readily as the compound.

Although neither country is likely to ever ban alum, sources say the new Canadian health standard will make infractions punishable by law. In contrast, the EPA has an unenforcable "secondary standard" on aluminum. According to Bruce Mintz, chief of the EPA's Drinking Water Health Assessment Division, the current standard was issued in 1991 because high levels of alum cause douding. "We have kept [aluminum] on our radar as a health risk assessment, but we still feel that there are too many unanswered about the research, " adds Jennifer Orme Zavaleta, chief of the EPA's Human Risk Assessment Branch.

Water-quality activists aren't satisfied with the EPA's position. Erik Jansson, executive director of the Department of Planet Earth, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group, says water utilities in cities including Denver, Chicago and Minneapolis recently reported aluminum levels over 200 micrograms per liter. This is higher than the EPA's recommended standard of 200 micrograms to 200 micrograms per liter.

Neither Health Canada nor the EPA will disclose the agenda for the meeting, but Thomas says his agency will have at least one message for the Americans: "We really should be looking at the wisdom of adding a known neurotoxin to the water supply."