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Bromate decomposition kinetics with simulated stomach/gastric juice was studied to contibute to more accurate determination of the risk of environmentally relevant exposures to bromate. Any presystemic reduction in the stomach would yield lower risks. Bromate is rapidly reduced by hydrogen sulfide (H2S); half‐lives were 153 min at zero H2S and 2, 24, and 32 min at 10−4, 10−5, and 10−6 M H2S, respectively. Half‐lives at 10−4 and 10−5 M are biologically relevant for the retention time for water in an empty stomach. Common dietary inorganic reducing agents (ferrous, iodide, and nitrite) generally enhanced bromate reduction with H2S. Oxidizing agents (hypochlorous acid/chlorine, chloramine, and ferric ion) usually modestly reduced decomposition rates with H2S. Consumption of chlorinated or chloraminated drinking water containing bromate would not materially affect the extent of presystemic bromate reduction. Current studies by the authors are quantifying bromate reduction from the greater systemic liver and blood metabolism, where rapid reactions with glutathione and other reducing agents occur.

Ozone is a drinking water disinfectant that quickly and efficiently kills many types of pathogens. However, the ozonation of bromide ion containing waters can form the disinfection byproduct, bromate ion. Bromate ion is a possible human carcinogen that is regulated by the US EPA at a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 micrograms per liter (mg/L). The lifetime risk at the MCL was calculated from studies where laboratory animals received large doses of bromate ion that would produce effects in their lifetimes. The data from these large doses was fitted to a low-dose linear extrapolation (also called a linearized doseresponse) model. The model assumes there is a finite, albeit small, risk at any dose above zero of a genotoxic carcinogen. The validity of the linearized dose-response model projection at low doses is being questioned (i.e., the actual shape and slope of the dose/response as the dose approaches zero). The test system is bromate ion in synthetic and real gastric juices. The results reported here show that the bromate ion half-life, in the presence of typical H + , Cl À , and H 2 S concentrations found in the stomach, is 1.5-2 minutes. Thus, as much as 99% of the ingested bromate ion should be decomposed, while it is retained in the stomach. The results of these experiments will be used in the development of a more scientifically rigorous methodology for determining low level effects of bromate ion.