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Article: Dietary nitrate: Ward et al. respond.(Correspondence)
- Article from:
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Article date:
- August 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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We read with interest the letter by L'hirondel et al. regarding our workgroup report (Ward et al. 2005). L'hirondel et al. describe the research on methemoglobinemia, cancer, adverse reproductive, and other health outcomes as "extensive" and state that the range of results found is what would be expected if there were no correlation between these health outcomes and drinking water nitrate exposure. We disagree with their assessment of the literature. The etiologies of specific cancers and adverse reproductive outcomes are likely to be different from each other, and there are too few well-designed studies of any particular health outcome to draw conclusions about risk.
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