Opinion | The Beginning of the End for PFAS, or ‘Forever Chemicals’ - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/opinion/pfas-cancer-forever-chemicals.html
The E.P.A.’s move this month to regulate PFAS is a significant next step, but even in places where the groundwater is not highly contaminated, we will all still be exposed to unregulated PFAS without further government action. The chemicals are used in a staggering number of consumer products, including carpet, pizza boxes, microwave popcorn, yoga pants, bags and toiletries like dental floss, shampoo and cosmetics. They are still key ingredients in some firefighting foams; many fire departments still use these foams in emergencies like chemical plant fires. And in Texas, thousands of pounds of PFAS are being shot into the ground to lubricate drill bits for fracking.
We already know that high levels of exposure to PFAS have been linked to disastrous health impacts like birth defects, liver damage and many kinds of cancer. Yet the rate at which PFAS are being released into the environment far outpaces toxicologists’ ability to study their consequences for human health. Some 31 percent of groundwater samples in places with no known source of PFAS have shown contamination levels that exceed E.P.A. limits. And in some locations with established sources, like military and industrial sites, the levels of PFAS are far higher than the standard set by the new rule.
We now need a federal ban on firefighting foams containing PFAS and regulations that are enforceable by law to limit not just specific compounds in our water, but the whole class of highly pervasive chemicals. Mandates should identify the historical sources of pollution to hold industries accountable and avoid further straining the communities exposed to PFAS with the additional cost of their cleanup. On Friday, the E.P.A. helpfully put two PFAS compounds under its Superfund authority, shifting accountability for cleanup from taxpayers to polluters.