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The Environmental Protection Agency warned on Wednesday that a group of man-made chemicals found in drinking water, cosmetics and food packaging used by millions of Americans pose a danger to the environment. greater human health than regulators previously thought.
The new health warnings for a ubiquitous class of compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, underscore the risk faced by dozens of communities across the country. Linked to infertility, thyroid problems, and various types of cancer, these “chemicals forever” can persist in the environment for years without decomposing.
“People at the front line of PFAS contamination have been suffering for too long,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “That’s why the EPA is taking aggressive action.”
The guide aims to ask local officials to install water filters or at least warn residents of the pollution. But for now, the federal government does not regulate chemicals. Health advocates have called on the Biden administration to act more quickly to address what officials on both sides describe as a pollution crisis that has hit all states.
“Today’s announcement should sound the alarm for consumers and regulators,” said Melanie Benesh, a lawyer for the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization. “These proposed levels of advice show that we need to move much faster to drastically reduce exposure to these toxic chemicals.”
Since the 1940s, chemical manufacturers have been using highly durable compounds to make non-stick cookware, moisture-repellent fabrics, and fireproof equipment. But this same hardness against water and fire, which made chemicals profitable, allowed them to accumulate in nature and accumulate in the body, with long-term impacts on health.
Agency officials rated two of the most common, known as PFOA and PFOS, in recent human health studies and announced Wednesday that lifetime exposure to surprisingly low levels of 0.004 and 0.02 parts per billion, respectively, can compromise the immune and cardiovascular systems and are related to weight loss at birth.
Those drinking water concentrations represent “really sharp reductions” from previous health warnings set at 70 parts per trillion in 2016, said Erik Olson, senior strategic director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a defense group. The announcement, he added, sends “an important signal to get these things out of our drinking water.”
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More importantly, the EPA is preparing to propose mandatory standards for both chemicals this fall. Once completed, water companies will face sanctions if they do not comply. Notices will be maintained until the rule is issued. The EPA also said Wednesday it is offering $ 1 billion in grants to states and tribes through the bipartisan infrastructure law to address drinking water pollution.
However, already in the United States, manufacturers have largely replaced PFOA and PFOS with other fluorinated compounds. The EPA determined that two of these alternatives, called GenX and PFBS, are also dangerous to ingest even at relatively low levels, according to a review of recent research on mice.
Among the communities most affected by the pollution are those near military bases, where PFAS-laden foams have been used for decades to fight aircraft fuel fires.
Many residents of Oscoda, Michigan, for example, have heeded warnings from state health officials and stopped drinking untreated well water and eating hunted deer near the now-closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base. .
“There is still no plan for the cleanup,” said Anthony Spaniola, a lawyer and co-chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network whose family owns a lakeside home in Oscoda. “The Department of Defense, frankly, has mismanaged this site, limiting it to recklessness.”
Spaniola hopes the new health warnings will mean that the military will “change the scope of what they need to clean up.”
In North Carolina, Emily Donovan’s family of four began carrying bottled water and installed a filter under her sink after PFAS was discovered in and around Cape Fear River. Instead of asking parents to give cookies and cupcakes, schools ask for water bottles for dances and other events.
“It’s a layer of stress we all live with now,” said Donovan, now an activist who co-founded Clean Cape Fear and is part of the National PFAS Contamination Coalition’s leadership team.
“Are you constantly asking,” he added, “is there something inside me? Is there something inside my children?”
Regan, who served as North Carolina’s top environmental officer before joining the EPA, ordered the chemical company Chemours to prevent the compounds from being depleted in the river.
While the agency plans to regulate two PFAS, thousands of different compounds have been discovered. Many health advocates say federal regulators should crack down on compounds as a group.
“We can’t continue with this approach to blows to regulate them,” Olson said. “We will never end up in anyone’s life.”
Radhika Fox, who heads the EPA’s Water Office, said the agency is considering more comprehensive regulations for the compound class. “We are exploring options to propose a rule that is for groups, not just PFOA and PFOS,” he told reporters on Tuesday in a Zoom call.
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