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Special Green (Lettuce!) Issues To Consider
any as 20 states, from the manufacture of rocket fuel, flares and munitions and is known to contaminate the Colorado. A study by the Environmental Working Group found perchlorate in four of 22 lettuce samples purchased in January and February in the San Francisco Bay Area. The four positive samples had more than 30 parts per billion of the pollutant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a preliminary safety level of one part per billion of perchlorate in water.
And recent tests by The Press-Enterprise newspaper of Riverside, Calif., found perchlorate in 18 of 18 lettuce samples, at an average of eight parts per billion. Perchlorate affects the thyroid gland and can disrupt hormone production. This is of particular concern to pregnant women because proper thyroid function is crucial to the development of a baby's brain and nervous system. It's believed that the Colorado's contamination comes from two now-closed perchlorate plants near Las Vegas. The plants' water is known to contain perchlorate levels from three to 10 parts per billion.
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