What consumers can do as regulators weigh ‘compounds’ risk
20 Jul 2019 | Associated Press
It’s probably impossible to avoid all exposures, says Leonardo Trasande, a children’s environmental health specialist and vice chair for research at New York University’s pediatrics department, and a PFAS expert. But there are “safe and simple steps to limit exposure based on what we know.”
San Diego company awarded EPA grant to develop water quality test technology
19 Jul 2019 | City News Service (Scripps Media Inc.)
The US EPA announced that it awarded a $100,000 contract to 2W iTech, a San Diego-based technology company, to develop a low-cost method to identify trace amounts of perfluoroalkyl substances in water at a rate as small as 10 ppt.
N.H. approves unprecedented limits for PFAS chemicals in drinking water
19 Jul 2019 | NHPR
New Hampshire adopted the country’s most sweeping limits for PFAS chemical contamination in drinking water. It makes New Hampshire the first state to require local water systems, landfills and wastewater plants to routinely test and treat for four chemicals classified as PFAS.
Iowa officials launch PFAS Working Group to address risks to drinking water
19 Jul 2019 | Iowa Public Radio
Local, state and federal officials are coming together to more proactively address PFAS contamination in Iowa. High levels of the chemicals have been found near military bases in Des Moines and Sioux City.
Curbing the use of ‘forever’ chemicals
18 Jul 2019 | Harvard School of Public Health
An interview with Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor of environmental health at Harvard Chan School who studies PFAS, including its health effects on immune response and risk of type 2 diabetes.
Angry with PFAS delays, Oscoda residents give the state an earful
17 Jul 2019 | MLive
People in Oscoda, MI are fed up. One by one, they filed to the microphone Tuesday night and gave a panel of state health and environmental specialists an earful. The U.S. Air Force — the polluter, which contaminated the area by using chemical-based firefighting foam at Wurtsmith Air Force Base — was absent from the meeting.
UMass Amherst study: PFAS move from mom to fetus at higher rate in women with gestational diabetes
17 Jul 2019 | American Association for the Advancement of Science
A University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental epidemiologist studying the presence of PFAS compounds in new mothers and their babies found that women with gestational diabetes had a ‘significantly higher’ rate of transferring the synthetic chemicals to their fetus.
Study examines PFAS data from 3 states
17 Jul 2019 | Coastal Review Online
North Carolina, Colorado and Michigan, three states with PFAS water contaminated are the focus of a three-year study to better understand the extent of contamination, the routes of exposure for the affected communities, and how these man-made chemicals move in the environment.
As federal regulations lag, states take action against PFAS chemicals
16 Jul 2019 | New Hampshire Public Radio
[New Hampshire] lawmakers are expected to pass some of the lowest limits on PFAS in drinking water in the country. The levels are way below how much PFAS the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe to drink.
3M could face huge cleanup costs over substance in Scotchgard
15 Jul 2019 | Star Tribune
New federal laws will soon address a national chemical pollution problem and could put 3M and other producers of PFAS into a multibillion-dollar financial bind.
What’s next, now that N.H. officials have proposed among the strictest PFAS limits in the country?
15 Jul 2019 | The Exchange (NHPR)
After intense pressure from community activists, New Hampshire officials have proposed some of the lowest PFAS limits in the country. Find out what's in store now, in terms of testing, following the health effects of these chemicals, and more.
How toxic ‘forever chemicals’ made their way into your food
14 Jul 2019 | The Hill
While the use of clean human or animal waste for fertilizing fields is logical and ecologically sensible, spreading sludge known to be contaminated with chemicals that don’t break down and are absorbed by plants and farm animals is not.
The Air Force polluted 4 SC bases with a toxic firefighting foam, didn’t tell neighbors
13 Jul 2019 | The Post and Courier
Four Air Force bases in South Carolina are severely contaminated with chemicals that scientists continue to investigate for possible links to thyroid disease, pregnancy complications, and kidney and testicular cancers.
A new drinking water crisis hits US military bases across the nation
13 Jul 2019 | CNBC
The Department of Defense has spent more than $550 million on PFAS investigations and responses including providing bottled water and in-home water filtration systems. But DOD has not come up with a plan to actually clean up the PFAS contamination across the country, something the Pentagon roughly estimated could cost $2 billion. CNBC went to some of the communities near military bases to see how PFAS contamination is playing out today. Watch the video to hear from impacted citizens, veterans and military officials.
House measure would declare PFAS chemicals hazardous under Superfund law
12 Jul 2019 | The Detroit News
The U.S. House approved in a 220-197 vote a defense authorization bill that would designate all toxic fluorinated chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund program within a year and phase out military fire-fighting foam containing PFAS by 2025, rather than 2029 as called for in the underlying National Defense Authorization Act.