Environ. Sci. Technol.
2000, 34, 4454
Response to Comment on “Perchlorate
Identification in Fertilizers” and the
Subsequent Addition/Correction
SIR: As Urbansky et al. (1) acknowledge, our original report
(2) of high levels of perchlorate in virtually all lawn and garden
fertilizers that we tested (which were acquired from No-
vember 1998 to January 1999) is now undisputed. At this
point, these positive identifications have been supported by
four well-established analytical techniques (ion chromatog-
raphy, NMR spectroscopy, capillary electrophoresis, and
Raman spectroscopy), from four separate samplings, going
back each time to the original bags, and by three separate
laboratories. However, like Urbansky et al. (1), we find and
have reported (3) that virtually all products of the same type
* Corresponding author telephone: (706)355-8235; fax: (706)355-
8202; e-mail: mccutcheon.steven@epa.gov.
4454 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 34, NO. 20, 2000
acquired after July 1999 do not contain perchlorate above
the ion chromatographic detection level. We have not yet
determined the source of contamination of the earlier
products.
Literature Cited
(1) Urbansky, E. T.; Magnuson, M. L.; Kelty, C. A.; Gu, B.; Brown.
G. M. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34, 4452-4453.
(2) Susarla, S.; Collette, T. W.; Garrison, A. W.; Wolfe, N. L.;
McCutcheon, S. C. Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33, 3469-3472.
(3) Susarla, S.; Collette, T. W.; Garrison, A. W.; Wolfe, N. L.;
McCutcheon, S. C. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34, 224.
Sridhar Susarla, T. W. Collette, A. W. Garrison,
N. L. Wolfe, and S. C. McCutcheon*
United States Environmental Protection Agency
National Exposure Research Laboratory
Ecosystems Research Division
960 College Station Road
Athens, Georgia 30605
ES0020097
10.1021/es0020097 Not subject to U.S. copyright. Publ. 2000 Am. Chem.Soc.
Published on Web 09/09/2000