Drinking water contaminations have affected water piped to more than 49 million Americans since 2004, according to an exhaustive study just completed by The New York Times. And while the government is aware of the violations, it has rarely fined or punished the violators.

In response to concerns expressed by scientists, the EPA in January issued a “health advisory” on perchlorate and asked for review of the issue from the National Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, infants are getting too much perchlorate, from both the powdered formula and from the water used to mix it.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) identifies perchlorate as a thyroid toxin that particularly affects infants and fetuses.

The EPA last year decided not to regulate perchlorate as a drinking water pollutant, according to the medicalnewstoday.com article.