They are used to give plastic products their distinctive durability, bendability and sleek, nonstick surface. Yet some of these chemical additives have been tied to maladies such as breast and prostate cancer, heart disease and diabetes, as well as problems with children’s brain development and adult fertility.
The Biden administration and Congress are stepping up efforts to control the release and cleanup of poly and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water sources and elsewhere, joining states that have expanded scrutiny of the chemicals, which are used widely in manufacturing and are extremely persistent in the environment.
Each of the differing $740-billion defense authorization bills that the House and Senate passed during the week of July 20 includes several provisions that would address pollution caused by per- and polyfluoralkyl substances at Dept.of Defense facilities. But neither would classify the chemicals as hazardous materials eligible for Superfund cleanup.
This year’s National Defense Authorization Act will almost certainly not carry broad chemical cleanup and drinking water mandates. Now lawmakers focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are looking for alternative vehicles as the election nears and the congressional calendar shrinks. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and her allies did not convince the Rules Committee this month to allow a vote on the “PFAS Action Act,” H.R. 535 as an amendment to the House NDAA.
The National Toxicology Program for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a Technical Report that found evidence of carcinogenic activity in laboratory rats exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid. The NTP Technical Report may result in the listing of PFOA under California’s Proposition 65 as a carcinogen. Private toxic tort plaintiffs may also attempt to rely on the Technical Report in PFAS contamination lawsuits.
House lawmakers presented an extensive amendment to the annual defense spending bill targeting harmful chemicals that have contaminated hundreds of military bases.
Residents in Earlimart, California, lost water service when a 50-year-old well on Mary Ann Avenue failed in late May.
When it came back on, the main source of drinking water for more than 8,000 residents became a well contaminated with a chemical from banned pesticides. And most residents didn’t know.
Senate Democrats want to know whether being exposed to PFAS chemicals, which have become ubiquitous in the environment, worsens the effect of the coronavirus on the human body.
The Trump administration has decided a chemical with a notorious legacy in Nevada will not be regulated in drinking water, but state officials say the reversal of the Obama-era policy shouldn’t result in any decline in drinking water standards across the state.
US environmental regulators have decided they will not put restrictions on perchlorate – a rocket fuel ingredient known to harm fetal brain development – in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency argued that the federal government, states and public water systems have already taken proactive steps to reduce perchlorate levels.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
