Scientists tied to chemical industry plan to derail PFAS rule on drinking water

By Tom Perkins | The Guardian | August 27, 2024

Read the full article by Tom Perkins (The Guardian)

“Scientists with financial ties to industry and histories of producing controversial research to derail chemical regulations are mobilizing to attack strict new federal drinking water limits for toxic PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals’, documents reviewed by the Guardian reveal.

In July, Michael Dourson, a contentious toxicologist who receives some funding from chemical makers, sent an email to scientists, consultants and lawyers detailing a plan to develop and publish peer-reviewed science for chemical companies to wield as evidence against PFAS limits. It went out just after industry groups mounted a legal challenge to the restrictions.

But current and former Environmental Protection Agency staff who reviewed the documents allege the scientists are engineering an ethically questionable plan designed to generate uncertainty about the ‘robust’ science underpinning the PFAS limits.

The plans were ‘not a valid approach to science’, said Maria Doa, a former EPA risk assessment manager now with the Environmental Defense Fund non-profit. Rather, she said, they were a legal strategy out of the industry playbook for undoing regulations.”…

This content provided by the PFAS Project.