Bill Clinton: “I thank Senator Boxer for bringing this amendment up for debate and vote, and I want to add my words of strong support…”

“I thank Senator Boxer for bringing this amendment up for debate and vote, and I want to add my words of strong support because it is clear we have a public health issue with respect to the level of arsenic in too many of our water supplies, particularly in the West but not exclusively. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has taken steps to delay rather than enforce new rules requiring less arsenic in America's drinking water. That is a step in the wrong direction. It is wrong from a legal perspective since the new standard was required to be in place as of June 22 of this year, and that was a statutory requirement put into place by the Congress. Perhaps most important, it is wrong from a public health perspective. The administration says it needs to examine further arsenic in drinking water, but while they continue to study arsenic, the American people continue to be exposed to this carcinogen. Senator Boxer has already talked about the studies that have been done affirming over and over again the public health issues relating to arsenic in our drinking water. The National Academy of Sciences found chronic ingestion of arsenic causes bladder, lung, and skin cancer. Another study released this past March, by researchers at Dartmouth University, shows low concentrations of arsenic in drinking water can have hormone-disrupting effects.”