{"id":2936,"date":"2014-01-15T22:56:40","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T03:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:01:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:01:32","slug":"west-virginia-issues-drinking-water-advisory-for-pregnant-women-in-wake-of-chemical-spill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2014\/01\/15\/west-virginia-issues-drinking-water-advisory-for-pregnant-women-in-wake-of-chemical-spill\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia issues drinking water advisory for pregnant women in wake of chemical spill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Richard Denison, Ph.D.<\/em><em>,<\/em> is a Senior Scientist.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Shortly after 8pm this evening, the West Virginia Department of Health issued a \u201cWater Advisory for Pregnant Women\u201d in connection with last Thursday\u2019s chemical spill. \u00a0The news was <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvgazette.com\/News\/201401150150\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">first reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> by Ken Ward, Jr. and David Gutman in the <i>Charleston <\/i><i>Gazette<\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvdhhr.org\/Advisory1152014.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">The Advisory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> states:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health advises, after consultation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this evening, that the CDC recommends\u2014out of an abundance of caution\u2014that pregnant women drink bottled water until there are no longer detectable levels of MCHM in the water distribution system. However, the CDC re-affirmed previous advice that it does not anticipate any adverse health effects from levels less than 1 ppm.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Guidance from the CDC is attached.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Two other documents are available:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvdhhr.org\/wvbphCDCfaq.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">A Frequently Asked Questions document<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> on consumption of water by pregnant women developed by the state Department of Health and the CDC.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvgazette.com\/mediafiles\/document\/2014\/01\/15\/CDC-Letter_I140115200848.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">A letter from the Director of the CDC to Secretary for Health in West Virginia<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> recommending issuance of the Advisory.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2926\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2926\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/secure2.edf.org\/site\/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1915&amp;utm_source=healthblog&amp;utm_medium=social-media&amp;utm_campaign=edfhealth\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2926\" alt=\"Take Action: Support Stronger Toxic Chemical Standards\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2014\/01\/iStock_000021577071Small-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2014\/01\/iStock_000021577071Small-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2014\/01\/iStock_000021577071Small-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2014\/01\/iStock_000021577071Small-20x15.jpg 20w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2014\/01\/iStock_000021577071Small.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2926\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/secure2.edf.org\/site\/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1915&amp;utm_source=healthblog&amp;utm_medium=social-media&amp;utm_campaign=edfhealth\">Take Action: Support Stronger Toxic Chemical Standards \u00bb<\/a><\/b><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It is unclear what prompted tonight\u2019s issuance of the Advisory, which comes six days into the spill.\u00a0 However, one clue may be in the CDC letter, which states:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Since making the initial calculations, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">scientists have obtained additional animal studies about MCHM<\/span>.\u00a0 These are currently being reviewed.\u00a0 At this time, the scientists continue to recommend 1 ppm as a protective level to prevent adverse health effects.\u00a0 However, due to limited availability of data, and out of an abundance of caution, you may wish to consider an alternative drinking water source for pregnant women until the chemical is at non-detectable levels in the water distribution system. (emphasis added)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">It appears the new information prompted the CDC recommendation that West Virginia consider advising pregnant women to avoid drinking the water, which raises the question as to whether the new animal studies suggest a potential for developmental toxicity or a related effect.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">It should be noted that the answer to the first question in the FAQ document states: <i>\u201cThere are no known studies showing harm to the fetus as a result of consuming water with MCHM levels below 1 ppm.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">Clearly something prompted the issuance of the advisory.\u00a0 I hope we\u2019ll learn more shortly.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Questions have already been raised on this blog about the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2014\/01\/11\/failed-tsca-collides-with-the-real-world-in-west-virginia-chemical-spill-this-week\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">lack of data on this chemical<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2014\/01\/13\/west-virginia-officials-trust-shaky-science-in-rush-to-restore-water-service-one-part-per-million-safe-threshold-has-questionable-basis\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">methodology used by government officials to calculate the 1 ppm level<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">. \u00a0This new development, however, I believe lends even greater weight to the need for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">immediate public release<\/span> of both all available studies and the methodology.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist. Shortly after 8pm this evening, the West Virginia Department of Health issued a \u201cWater Advisory for Pregnant Women\u201d in connection with last Thursday\u2019s chemical spill. \u00a0The news was first reported by Ken Ward, Jr. and David Gutman in the Charleston Gazette. The Advisory states: The West Virginia Bureau &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,44,56096],"tags":[39993,39996],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-policy","category-omboira","tag-general-interest","tag-wv-chemical-spill"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12693,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions\/12693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}