Overview
- A coalition of 14 Republican state attorneys general led by Missouri’s attorney general sent a June 5 letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin asking that mifepristone and its generics be added to the agency’s Contaminant Candidate List.
- The EPA says it is reviewing public comments on its draft sixth Contaminant Candidate List and has made no decision about adding mifepristone to the list.
- The attorneys general argue that wider at-home use of the drug and changes in FDA dispensing rules over the past decade raise the risk that residues could enter wastewater and unintentionally reach pregnant women through drinking water.
- Environmental scientists and advocacy groups counter that there is no current evidence mifepristone in wastewater harms people or wildlife and note that trace pharmaceuticals are commonly detected in water without posing proven health risks.
- Placing a substance on the Contaminant Candidate List would trigger occurrence monitoring and health-effect reviews but would not set drinking-water limits immediately, and the request has reopened a partisan debate in media and among public-health and environmental groups.