I'm a Michigan nun. Pope Francis says PFAS contamination is a sin against God. | Opinion

By Sister Ellen Burkhardt | Detroit Free Press | April 17, 2024

Read the full article by Sister Ellen Burkhardt (Detroit Free Press)

"While former President Donald Trump ginned up racial fear with his claim that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the U.S., our blood has actually been poisoned — by willfully negligent chemical companies.

All of us have been exposed to a group of toxins known as PFAS, dubbed “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally. Even when corporations knew that PFAS were toxic, they were dumped in our water and sold to us in products like Teflon, carpeting and food packaging. These toxic substances are linked to several forms of cancer, as well as impaired fetal development.

I am a religious sister, and I believe we have a moral duty to ourselves and to our children to strengthen the guardrails against reckless pollution. "