Chemical Industry Players Attempt To Discredit EPA Limit on PFAS

 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

Leveraging Systematic Reviews to Explore Disease Burden and Costs of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposures in the United States - Exposure and Health

Accelerating evidence confirms the contribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to di...

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!

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.

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%

glad to see that EPA is working to make ALL OF OUR WATER Safer & Cleaner 

Of course, they are trying to discredit the Environmental Protection Agency.  

However, when I weigh the trustworthiness of the EPA against the dirty, deadly, dangerous and interminably greedy chemical industry, the EPA always wins.  

As a retired emergency physician, I read the scientific reports and medical studies on environmental toxins.  Moreover, I understand them.  

Greedy industrial polluters and producers of highly toxic chemicals/pesticides cannot be trusted.

Went has our government taken so long to act to act knowing full well these chemicals are harmful? Shame on them for not protecting our health and welfare 

I just want revenge but these satanic rich owned politicians of ours won't ever give us that. They idolize the rich and their most important policy is that the rich have profits above all else. They're despicable just about as bad as Republicans. They are legally bribed and owned by the rich and they love it. The republican policy is of the rich by the rich and for the rich. Democracy died and we have capitalism. Capitalism is plutocracy, plutocracy is oligarchy, oligarchy is social and we have a choice to make. 

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At this late stage we should have NO tolerance for forever chemicals in our children's food, drinks, water, or environment. It boggles my mind that we do not heavily fine and take to court any companies that do so. I thank any agency and politician working to remedy this horrible practice of allowing any forever chemical to remain and exist in food or water. 

The primary role of government officials is to set and enforce standards that ensure the public has access to safe drinking water and food.  Our food and water is already contaminated because the government allows companies to add chemicals to food, water, cookware, clothing etc. without proving they are safe first.

Our government should put the burden of proof (that a chemical is safe) on the chemical companies instead of the tax payers.

Instead chemical companies and politicians make millions. Meanwhile, the public faces increased health effects and concerns, increased costs for health insurance, increased medical bills, and now increased taxes to pay for remediation efforts, for instance improved water treatment facilities to remove PFAS (or any other chemical that enters our environment).

When are we going to hold politicians accountable for representing their constituents instead of their own bank accounts? 

The Oetro chemical industry needs to have safety standards set by the EPA, as they are profit driven first and it seems that health concerns are further down the list! 

we also need to set a standard that all new plastic items need to have at least 10% recycled materials, and the every two years that goes up 10% until it's near 100 percent 

Give the EPA there power to protect us. Tourism is the heart of Floridas economy. Stop fucking that up. 

The failure to alert the community as a whole and having many believe the opposite makes me say I am furious and I want to see my elected politicians to do their jobs and stop America from being such a fascist warmonger on top of being totally bribed. I think you want to go to hell. Send people cards in the mail but with facts you stand on that the re'Satan'lican party says backwards. Be a leader! We have capitalism that by dictionary means plutocracy. You're bribed we know it. Propaganda means deceit and treachery. Be mad as hell about it. Grow up. The rich are idolized by the Republicans evangelical church. I love a good pastor and he knows his versus and makes me so excited and happy, not with anger but with love. No more genocide! No more imperialism. No more middlemen! No more injustice from all the treacherous men that bribed all our politicians into madness. Look, mental evaluations are necessary because kids been brought up to be little racists. We must do this to ensure that mentally unfit people who hold to much anger should not be armed. There's countries without gun deaths. Japan has one murder one year by gun. Cheating wife I think it was. Another country in Europe everyone owns a gun but have a brotherly society unlike our racist society or shall I say Republican plutocratic, fascist, welcomes the antichrist, slave drivers, psychotics, sociopaths, devil worshippers, and/or misled. If propaganda were illegal there would be no lies, let's get it done! Make me happy, just once, please, I beg you,...

Follow real science! 

PFAS are appalling! How much longer will we continue to be subjected to them?

Dear Senators and Representatives, 

PFAS are a group of dangerous compounds known as "forever chemicals" that experts believe contaminate drinking water for over 200 million Americans.

“Documents reviewed by the Guardian found that scientists with ties to the chemical industry are mobilizing attacks on new federal drinking water limits for toxic PFAS, also known as ‘forever chemicals.’”

 – When do scientific fnding become decisive?

 – At what point does environmental biomedical science provide definitive risk assessment?

Right I want Presidential Candidate VP Kamala Harris, and each of our Senators and Representatives to fully support the Environmental Protection Agency’s findings and its actions!

We need rigorous Federal Legislation to halt the chemical industry from making PFAS and to halt the packagers and others like the furniture manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers to stop using PFAS and selling products with PFAS.

Additionally, we need far much better media coverage that includes penetrative and incisive reporting on PFAS, which activist groups are effectiveky fighting PFAS. We need better community outreach regarding the deleterious effects of PFAS.

Best Regards.

#VoteBlueIn2024+

#VoteHarrisWalz

💙 🇺🇸 💙

The EPA is right.   They should have raised their standards even higher, though.  As far as the OIL Industries trying to discredit them, though.  Fact of the matter, they have been polluting our planet, our oceans, our drinking water and our neighborhood since the 1980s and it's past time that someone stepped in and told them no.

Documents reviewed by the Guardian.... that it itself is funny. There is nothing bipartisan or balanced about that rag. Find a better balanced source before taking your straw polls

I actually sent a letter to each member of the Supreme Court last month that basically said, "I don't care which side of the political divide you're on, but please remember it is NOT your job to make life worse for your fellow Americans."

I assume none of them will ever actually see it, but someone will probably read the letters and maybe it'll influence something down the line. Regardless, it made me feel better to do something.

The tighter the regulations the better because corporations have already proven they wouldn't hesitate to poison us in the name of profit and greed.  

It's past time that we stop having "scientific" data funded by organizations with highly self-interested motives for a given outcome. There is a LONG list of "scientific" analysis that has damaged the health of people and degraded our environment. The only scientific data I'd trust that was funded by any organization is data that puts the organization's activities in a negative light. That said, we need to be sure that unbiased scientific data is used to make decisions based on the best evidence, research and experimentation that is available at the time the decision is being made.

I trust the EPA to protect me. I trust the chemical industries as much as I trust Trump, which means not at all.

I fully support EPA efforts to reduce "forever chemicals" in the environment!!  We are slowly killing ourselves with all of the chemicals, pollution,, etc that we are discharging into the environment.  We must do all we can to stop our usage of chemicals, fossil fuels, etc to try to preserve what we have and hopefully in time reverse the effects of all these poisons!!  I believe in the science behind all the efforts the EPA is making to reduce the effects.

This is a move in the right direction. It will take time to try & undo all the damage from the last administration. We now have an administration that believes in science. Our health depends on having limitations.

Those who use smoke and mirrors to cloud the truth need to be punished beyond the limits of the law. Give them a dose of cancer and see what happens. I watched my mom die of a slow cancer. They all should be given a case of it to deal with.

we need to start making health more important than $$$. Industry has had too free of a hand for too long.

Do not understsand it all. I know that agencies exceed their power and like climate change, only fund believers.