The US Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA) recently proposed
that the maximum contaminant
level (MCL) for arsenic be revised
from 50 to 10 ug/L. This change will have
significant economic consequences for
water systems. Will the benefits of the
revised MCL justify the expense?
According to Frost et al, the revised
arsenic MCL will result in high costs for
uncertain benefits. To support their theory,
they examined the cancer health risk
studies that were used to support the
proposed revision and evaluated the quality
of this evidence as well as its costeffectiveness.
They maintain that the
science supporting the proposed new
arsenic MCL is fraught with uncertainties.
For instance, the arsenic MCL revision
is partly based on an extrapolation
of arsenic-related cancer risks from studies
in Taiwan to US populations. However,
the authors discovered that no US
epidemiological studies have found
adverse health effects in people who consumed
US water supplies that contained
arsenic. The authors used estimates of the
cost of compliance developed by USEPA
and the AWWA Research Foundation
and USEPA's estimated reductions in
arsenic-related cancer mortality to calculate
the marginal cost per year-of-life
gained for different MCL options. These
costs were then compared with acceptable
costs for other public health and medical
treatment interventions. Even assuming
USEPA's projected benefits and costs,
Frost et al maintain that the cost per year
of life gained from the proposed regulation
is much higher than acceptable costs
per year of life gained from medical interventions
or other public health programs.
With their findings in mind, the authors
hope that the drinking water industry will
take a more aggressive approach to evaluating
the health effects science for new
proposed regulations and that their article
will initiate a discussion of acceptable
costs per unit of benefit for future regulations.
Frost and colleagues also hope that
the industry, led by AWWA and/or other
organizations, will confront USEPA to
reform the process used to justify new
regulations. Includes 30 references, tables.
| Edition : | Vol. 94 - No. 3 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 380 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 10 |
| Published : | 03/01/2002 |
