Causes.com
| 4.10.24
EPA Imposes Drinking Water Limit on 'Forever Chemicals'
How do you feel about the new EPA limit?
What's the story?
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set legally enforceable PFAS limits in drinking water, marking a "historic" ruling in public health.
- PFAS are a group of dangerous compounds known as "forever chemicals" that experts believe contaminate drinking water for over 200 million Americans.
- The new EPA limit marks the first time in nearly three decades that the agency has established a drinking water standard. EPA administrator Michael Regan said this is the most important action the agency has ever taken on PFAS.
What are PFAS?
- PFAS, or poly-fluoroalkyl substances, is an umbrella term covering a class of about 9,000 compounds and human-made substances used to make products and materials resistant to water, heat, and stains.
- They are frequently found in food packaging, cookware, waterproof clothing, cosmetics, mattresses, carpets, electronics, and countless other consumer goods.
- PFAS leak out of these products, travel through wastewater, and contaminate natural water, soil, and air. The chemicals pollute the world's agricultural soil, drinking water reservoirs, and atmosphere.
How does PFAS impact human health?
- It is difficult to identify the long-term health impacts of exposure to PFAS. A recent study by Stockholm University suggests that everyone on Earth is at risk of exposure and the unknown health effects.
- Studies have linked PFAS to various health issues so far, including liver damage, women's fertility and pregnancy issues, gestational diabetes, certain cancers, and lower immune system response.
- Experts are especially concerned about how the chemicals impact children. Dr. Perry Elizabeth Sheffield of the New York State Children's Environmental Health Centers network and Mount Sinai explained:
"While we think children, in particular, may be sensitive to negative health effects if exposed because they are still growing and developing, more information is needed."
What are the risks?
- While PFOS and PFOA (part of the PFAS group) have been banned or restricted in the U.S., their bioaccumulative effects make their existence in the environment persistent.
- A 2021 study found that PFAS compounds contaminate the air inside homes, classrooms, and stores at alarming levels. Out of 20 indoor sites examined by researchers, 17 tested positive for PFAS in dust and air. Forever chemicals have also been found in the deep ocean, Antarctica, and even in humans, which has alarmed scientists and public health experts.
- More than 190 million chemicals are registered globally, and a new industrial chemical is created every 1.4 seconds on average. Despite the regulations and concerns, PFAS has been detected in nearly 75% of items labeled stain- or water-resistant, according to an analysis of popular brand-name products.
How to avoid exposure
- The EPA has created a list of more than 120,000 locations within the U.S. where exposure might be exceptionally high. The public is advised to avoid visiting these areas.
- People who dine out frequently may have higher levels of PFAS in their blood due to takeout containers, even with eco-friendly or sustainable packaging.
- Dr. Monique May of UnitedHealth Group suggests families ask their local water utility company for information about PFAS levels in the water supply if they are concerned. Other steps include requesting the water to be tested, investing in water filters, and seeking out expertise in environmental medicine.
How do you feel about the new EPA limit?
-Jamie Epstein
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EPA has finally got their power back after being taken out at the knees by the last administration. This is just a start. These chemicals are dangerous and no amount should be in our water/food sources.
The list of 120 sites with high amounts of PFAS that you should not visit. Unfortunately, people LIVE in these places! (I do!) So, if you find that you have high levels of these toxins in your body, there is NO way to rid them. NO way to know how you were exposed or who is responsible for the exposure.
97% of fresh & processed foods now have PFAS. What are we supposed to eat?
It would be interesting to see other country's PFAS concentrations & life expectancies/cancer/autoimmune rates
https://www.fda.gov/food/process-contaminants-food/questions-and-answers-pfas-food
While this is a great step towards protecting public health, I fear it is too little too late.
These PFAS chemicals are in nearly everything and have been for decades. We must find out how much these companies that created and marketed them knew about them and hold them accountable, including fining them to pay for programs to find ways to remove and treat our homes, our bodies, and our water.
Capitalism is a good concept, but when we find out companies have used their massive profits to harm us all, then we must hold them accountable to pay for the consequences.
Every American deserves clean and nontoxic water, clothing, food, and homes. Let's be proactive and find a way to ensure this by rooting out every source of PFAS and removing them.
Good 1st step to have enforceable limits as previously it was just an advisory, and reducing the limit from 70 parts per trillion (ppt) to 4ppt, however it is concerning that 200M are exposed but only 100M are benefiting, only 2 of 4700 PFAs are covered, and PFAs are not completely banned like in the EU.
It is also good that polluting companies (3M, DuPont, Chemours) are paying $15B as settlements to class action lawsuits in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act funding for water infrastructure.
Systematic reviews and meta-analysis has identified PFAS (4700 human-made fluorine-rich molecules) detectable in human blood and attributable to increases in 13 medical conditions (high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, impaired immune function, kidney and testicular cancer, breast cancer, infertility, low birth rate, childhood obesity, diabetes, thyroid function) costing anywhere from $6B to $63B in healthcare costs. While PFAS have been banned in Europe they are still produced in other countries.
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAs) are man-made chemicals developed to be resistant to fire, oil, grease, water, stains that are found in a wide range of consumer and industrial products, including non-stick cookware, stain repellants, dental floss, cleaning products and cosmetics.
The chemicals are discharged from PFAS manufacturing and processing facilities or high use facilities (airports, military installations, etc).
Once they enter the environment and source water, PFAS compounds cannot be removed by the water treatment process. Its estimate that 18–80M people are exposed to at least 10 ppt of PFAS, and 200M+ are exposed to concentrations of 1 ppt or higher in tap water in the US like my county.
Our state says there are few sites in state, and none are upstream of drinking water sources.
Previously the EPA did not regulate PFAS compounds and only maintained a health advisory which was 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for two of the most common compounds: PFAS which is one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
In 2020 testing resumed of my county (and the neighboring county) filtration plants which identified 2 compounds (Perfluorohexanoic acid and Perfluorooctanoic acid) at levels barely above the minimum reporting level of 1.8 parts per trillion - well below the EPA's previous health advisory level of 70 ppt as well as the new 4 ppt limit.
Testing is done quarterly and reports are posted to the water company website serving our county and the neighboring county.
“The US Environmental Protection Agency has set legally enforceable drinking water limits for a group of the most dangerous PFAS compounds, marking what public health advocates hailed as “historic” rules that will dramatically improve the safety of the nation’s water…. The agency’s action marks the first time in 27 years it has put in place new drinking water limits for contaminants”
“PFAS, known as “forever chemicals”, are ubiquitous in the environment and thought to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200 million people across the US. Any exposure to some highly toxic varieties of the compounds is considered a health and cancer risk.”
“Officials said the rules will reduce exposure for 100 million people and help prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancers.”
“study identifies at least $5.52 billion in annual disease burden and associated social costs of current annual exposure to long-chain PFAS with our sensitivity analyses revealing as much as $62.6 billion. Regulatory action to limit ongoing PFAS use and remediate contaminated water supplies may produce substantial economic benefits.”
“EPA scientists calculated that the new limits will result in thousands of fewer birth-weight related infant deaths, kidney cancer deaths, bladder cancer deaths and deaths from cardiovascular disease.”
“Although PFOA and PFOS have been added to the Stockholm Convention and PFOA use has been banned in the EU, they are still being released into the environment and are still being produced in other countries. Furthermore, both chemicals persist in the environment due to their chemical stability, resulting in ongoing human exposure”
“Water utilities have long opposed the rules because they did not want to have to pay for upgrades, which they say will cost billions of dollars and lead to increased bills for customers.”
“The proposed limits established early last year contributed to a wave of utility lawsuits aimed at PFAS producers such as 3M, DuPont and Chemours. The companies settled some class actions, agreeing to pay up to $15bn to help fund upgrades to municipal water filtration systems.”
“The Biden administration also made billions of dollars available though the Inflation Reduction Act, but the cost to upgrade the nation’s water systems could be as much as $400bn. In part citing the regulatory and legal environments, 3M announced last year it would stop making PFAS”
https://www.causes.com/comments/34503
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/10/pfas-forever-chemicals-limits-drinking-water
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12403-022-00496-y
This must be just the start.
We must do a greart deal better at keeping toxic chemicals out of our food and water. We have barely begun to replace all our lead water lines! We've known about the hazards of lead in our drinking water for a century!
EPA will be abolished soon and about time. No one gave them legislative authority. Period. Washington is out of touch and needs to be gutted.
Do not trust agencies. Hope changes after Chevron SCOTUS decision..
we need a strong E.P.A. with teeth to protect citizens from pollutors, and hold them accountable. I never agreed to haveing plastic, teflon, or lead in my blood.
Corporations must face consequences when they are polluting our home!
Oh, it's great. Now let's wait to see if anyone follows it, and if anyone who doesn't faces real consequences.
Tell me, what has the government done recently that was correct? Covid, EV's, restrictions in the name of Climate Change, funding both sides of wars in Ukraiine and Israel, should I go on? . . . So why should one think that these new forever chemical rules are any good?
State Department Quiz on reducing plastics for earth day.
https://stories.state.gov/earth-day-2024/
This bill is an no-brainer.
Time to hold polluting companies accountable since they've known since the 1960s and 1970s of the harm it causes. While there have been some class action suits that have awarded $15B toward municipal water system upgrades the vast majority (as much as $400B) will be funded by US taxpayers as the health costs from PFAs are too great to wait for the court system to bring justice.
Companies should have to pay for water system upgrades to fix the problem, and medical expenses of those harmed especially since they've known since the 1960s and 1970s, and we have evidence supporting the medical conditions PFA causes.
" according to a new study published in Annals of Global Health, DuPont and 3M—the leading manufacturers of the chemicals—had preliminary evidence of PFAS toxicity as early as the 1960s, and knew broadly about the dangers the chemicals pose by 1970."
"Systematic reviews and meta-analysis has identified PFAS (4700 human-made fluorine-rich molecules) detectable in human blood and attributable to increases in 13 medical conditions (high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, impaired immune function, kidney and testicular cancer, breast cancer, infertility, low birth rate, childhood obesity, diabetes, thyroid function) costing anywhere from $6B to $63B in healthcare costs. While PFAS have been banned in Europe they are still produced in other countries."
https://www.causes.com/comments/126033
https://www.causes.com/comments/34503
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/10/pfas-forever-chemicals-limits-drinking-water
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12403-022-00496-y
https://time.com/6284266/pfas-forever-chemicals-manufacturers-kept-secret/
About time!
Keep going!
Glad to see the EPA is doing what they are designed to do becauase industry sure the hell won't.
Please continue to put constituents health over corporate profits.
This is EXACTLY what I want to hear from the EPA--that they will protect MY HEALTH with a requirement to prevent companies fro putting "forever chemicals" in my drinking water. Yes! Should this have probably come sooner? Of course, but you know, the disinformation and the profiteering. AM I glad tht it is happening now? Yes! I hearn on NPR that the forever chemicals are in so many products including floss--floss!?!--and so let's start with drinking water and work our way through. Are forever chemicals possibly carcinogenic? I think we need to know. As a 2-time cancer survivor, I will support all the work there is to do to keep Americans healthy!
Its about time! Better late then never.
The chemical industry should pay for all the cancers and health damage they have caused.
This has been a long time coming! The RepublicaNazis are so concerned about the unborn that they allow the big corporations of their megadonors to poison and murder Americans indiscriminately... well, not quite indiscriminately. They protect the living shit out of the wealthiest 0.00001%
CAUSES TELLS ME, THEN ASKS: "EPA Imposes Drinking Water Limit on 'Forever Chemicals' How do you feel about the new EPA limit?" ME: 'bout time! Better late than never.
its long over due!!
There have not been any reports in press about municipal treated water and injuries, excepting lead pipe delivery systems.
This is likely much ado about nothing but will increase the cost of Water treatment unequally across the nation.
glad to see that EPA is working to make ALL OF OUR WATER Safer & Cleaner
Everyone deserves clean safe drinking water.
These chemicals NEVER should have been in our water to begin with! Those who produced the products that contained these chemicals need to be charged with the attempt to harm all human life! They didn't care who got ill because of what they were dumping into the water! The Republicans won't do anything, as it will hurt their Corporate donors! We The People got to use that damaged water, and pay for it! I thank the EPA for actually doing something to correct this problem! I believe that these Corporations that created this problem should have to pay the cost of creating the mechanisms that every water purification plant must put in now to make sure these chemicals are no longer in our water! These Corporations are also responsible for high prices because they like the PROFIT they're making off of us! Fertilizer that carries some of these chemicals never should have been approved for use! This is to be a country Of The People, By The People, and For The People, not a country of the Corporations, For the Corporations, and By the Corporations! Citizens United helped to create this mess & Congress must removes it as it is unconstitutional! The Supreme Court Justices that paased this, need to be impeached!
This is way overdue. Glad to see some progress being made.