State officials update progress on 1,4-dioxane, PFAS regulations

By Liz McLaughlin | WRAL News | April 3, 2024

Read the full article by Liz McLaughlin (WRAL News)

"The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) discussed proposed regulations for forever chemicals, part of a chemical group called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Jamie Dewitt, a pharmacology and toxicology professor from East Carolina University who has been researching the immunotoxicological effects of PFAS, is a member of the NCDEQ Secretaries' Science Advisory Board (SSAB) and was part of Thursday's meeting in Raleigh to weigh in on how the state agency can effectively address contaminants in drinking and groundwater.

“North Carolina is the third highest state for PFAS exposure,” DeWitt said in a symposium for the National Institute of Health Sciences. “People who have certain types of PFAS exposure have health effects that include cancers, cholesterol diseases, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, and thyroid disease... among others.”