According to a US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention report they have found traces of perchlorate in many infant milk formulas. Perchlorate is widely used for rocket fuel.

The traces of this component have also been found in drinking water in almost 28 territories and states and they are being reckoned as a legacy of those missile and rocket trials that were used in the Cold War.

The finding has been published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology in the March issue, but it couldn’t come into public attention until a caution from an advocacy organization Environmental Working Group.

Dr Joshua G Shier is the first author of this CDC study, he and his team didn’t name the 15 brands that they used in their tests, but they report that two out of these 15 brands account for nearly 87% powdered infant formula in the US markets.

The researchers also reported that almost all these under tests infant milk formulas had traces of perchlorate. However, the researchers found that formulas based on cow milk had significantly higher amounts of perchlorate than the formulas based on soy, lactose free formulas.

The researchers also reported that the amount of the perchlorate RfD (a safety limit described by EPA) may get higher when some cow milk-based PIFs are ingested and when there is reconstitution of PIFs with perchlorate contaminated water. This was the conclusion that really grabbed lots of attention.