Just caught Seattle.
Drinking water is being shut off at all 100 Seattle public schools after tests last month found traces of arsenic in the water at several elementary schools.
. . .
The federal government recently changed the amount of arsenic it considers unsafe from less than 50 parts per billion to less than 10 parts per billion. The water tested in the five elementary schools contained between 11 and 18 parts per billion.
When the Seattle Times reporter, Emily Heffter, says "The federal government recently changed", she glides over what actually happened.
Here's the story: At the end of his eight years in office, Bill Clinton set a number of political traps for President Bush. One of them was changing the allowable level of arsenic in our water supplies from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. At the time, the scientific evidence that this change was needed was, at best, weak. And the proposal put severe burdens on some small towns. When the Bush administration took office, they set the rule aside and asked for a second look at the evidence. Immediately there was an outcry that Bush wanted to poison our children. (Sometimes from politicians, such as Tom Daschle, who had supported the higher level for years.) There was enough political damage from the charge that the Bush administration yielded to pressure and, after some months, accepted the lower standard.
And here's the joke: More recent studies showed that the level of 50 parts per billion is fine. In fact, there is some reason to believe, thanks to the curious phenomena of hormesis, that a level of 50 parts per billion may be healthier than lower levels.
So Bill Clinton's arsenic trap caught George W. Bush — and is now catching the Seattle public schools. I suppose there is some rough justice in that, since the city gave Clinton strong support in 1992 and 1996. But it is sad that Seattle schoolchildren, who had nothing to do with this, will lose resources that might have gone to better use.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(By the way, it is not just conservatives who thought that Clinton was setting a trap with this move. So did Ralph Nader. And the scientists at the World Health Organization never found any reason to change their recommendation for a limit of 50 parts per billion.
Was Heffter ignorant of this history? I can't tell from the article. But I'll ask her.)
Posted by Jim Miller at May 02, 2006 03:05 PM | Email ThisThe Seattle schools had a similar problem with lead awhile ago.
Posted by: Erik on May 2, 2006 03:49 PM50 parts per billion. Any scientist or engineer will tell you that if you take enough samples of tap water you can probably find 50 parts per billion of just about anything in the water. That's 50 our of 1 Billion. Short of distilling all water, you can't get purity greater than a certain point without enormous expense. And many studies show that the minerals in tap water are actually good for you compared to pure distilled water.
Just more sensationalism. A bunch of BS. But you can bet there will be hundreds of left leaning ambulance chasers running after this story.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 2, 2006 04:39 PMTypical media coverage though - always working to protect the Democrat and deceive the voters into thinking Republicans were responsible.
Posted by: MJC on May 2, 2006 05:12 PMWell, no, he wasn't brave.
He waited until the end of his administration to do it. Didn't have to. He could have done it in the first year of his administration. But he waited in order to avoid the certain fall-out that he knew would come and didn't want to deal with it.
How 'brave'.
Posted by: Michele on May 2, 2006 05:58 PMHe really just acted cowardly in this and there is no arguing it.
Posted by: Michele on May 2, 2006 06:03 PMStack up ten pennies. Then stack up one billion pennies next to the first stack. Compare.
Now stack up fifty pennies and another billion-penny stack. Compare to the first two stacks.
The difference is obvious, isn't it? :)
Posted by: F451 on May 2, 2006 07:27 PMGreed is rampant in this society - so much talent that could change things for the better, but selfishness rules the day !
Posted by: KS on May 2, 2006 08:52 PMIt's hard to trust the scientific community nowdays in some instances, as they are affected by the greed virus as well.
Posted by: KS on May 2, 2006 08:56 PMI just seethe when I see this.
First where is the science to show that the right number is 10, or 50 or something else?
Second, how many of the whiner-baby parents have checked and fixed lead and arsenic in their home system where their kids spend wayyyyy more time than at school?
Geezer rests.
Seattle school administration bends over.
Geezer wants to go back on the School Board, where he spent 13 years, and kick some sense into these patoots!!!
What the reporters neglected to ask is if the water in the surrounding communiy is any different. As Pacific Grove Phlash wrote above, the "emergency" bottled water being shipped in is probably equal or above in arsenic ppb... I would bet every local building has that range (11-18ppb) as well.
But it is such good fun seeing these guys panic. This is an object lesson in Chicken Little mentality. May even wake up a few greens in the process.
Posted by: Bleeding heart conservative on May 2, 2006 10:04 PMThe loony get loonier.
If I recall, most of the arsenic damage has been attributed to the miners where they really get arsenic concentrations.
What effect does even 100 ppb of arsenic have on the ecosystem or the human environment?
Posted by: swatter on May 3, 2006 07:10 AM