Fireworks over Fireworks

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ACSH staffers were surprised to learn that a city panel in Madison, Wisc. is investigating the toxicity of fireworks.

ACSH's Jeff Stier appeared on the Vicki McKenna radio show on Madison s WIBA station yesterday to discuss the panel's investigation. The city is trying to determine if the annual fireworks displays are contributing toxic levels of perchlorate to their water supply and whether they should restrict or ban the shows. Perchlorate, lovingly nicknamed rocket fuel by chemophobic activists, is used in propellants. Activists say it is an endocrine disruptor, but the amount required to affect the thyroid gland is orders of magnitude greater than that found in drinking water, according to ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.