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SSEHRI PFAS Project Team:
On June 25th and 26th the EPA held a New England PFAS engagement event at Exeter High School in Exeter, New Hampshire. The meeting featured state, regional, and some federal EPA officials, in addition to community members from New England states. The first evening prioritized community experiences dealing with PFAS-related contamination and exposure. EPA officials (Alexandra Dunn, Regional Administrator U.S. EPA Region 1, Peter Grevatt, U.S. EPA, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Jim Murphy, Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA Region 1) provided opening remarks, and restated Administrator Pruitt’s four commitments following the May 2018 D.C. PFAS summit: “1. Evaluate the need for a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFOA and PFOS. 2. Propose designating PFOA and PFOS as ‘hazardous substances’ through one of the available statutory mechanisms, including potentially CERCLA Section 102, 3. Develop groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOA and PFOS at contaminated sites by fall of this year. 4. Collaborate with our federal and state partners to develop toxicity values for GenX and PFBS.”
Community presentations and testimony focused on the health, social, psychological, and economic impacts of PFAS contamination. Many individuals detailed the unusual and severe health effects that they personally have experienced, their family members have experienced, and patterns of illness they observe in their communities. Individuals described losing personal happiness, trust in state officials, and faith in the capacity of government stakeholders to protect public health ahead of private interests... (continue reading)
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Environmental Working Group:
The extent of PFAS contamination of U.S. drinking water is much worse than previously thought, an EWG analysis found last month. More than 1,500 drinking water systems nationwide, serving as many as 110 million Americans, may be tainted with PFOA, PFOS or other PFAS chemicals.
From 2013 to 2015, the EPA mandated national testing for PFAS chemicals in public water systems, yet the full results of this testing, funded by taxpayers, were never made public. Water utilities with the highest concentrations of PFAS chemicals have been publicly identified. But the names of utilities with detectable PFAS contamination below the so-called reporting levels of 10 to 90 parts per trillion, or ppt, were not released. Millions of people were not informed that their water supply is contaminated with these chemicals.
Eurofins Eaton Analytical, which analyzed a third of the nationwide water samples, found that 28 percent of the water utilities it tested contained PFAS chemicals at concentrations at or above 5 ppt. The percentage of samples with PFAS detections nearly doubled when the laboratory analyzed down to 2.5 ppt. Based on this data, EWG’s analysis suggests that up to 110 million Americans could have PFAS in their water. Read our full report here.
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Brown University SRP:
The Brown Superfund Research Program (SRP) recently published a paper in Environmental Health Perspectives that focuses on key challenges and strategies related to PFAS releases in drinking water aquifers. The paper, entitled Evaluation and Management Strategies for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Drinking Water Aquifers: Perspectives from Impacted U.S. Northeast Communities, summarizes challenges communicated by SRP stakeholders during a series of PFAS workshops and webinars. Importantly it also includes methods and preliminary results of a risk-based geospatial framework that can be used to identify areas that are at-risk for PFAS drinking water impacts. The paper can be found at https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2727.
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STEEP Superfund Research Program:
STEEP Co-Director Dr. Philippe Grandjean, Harvard University, coordinated the recent PPTOX VI Conference in the Faroe Islands (prenatal programming and toxicity). The overall purpose of the conference was to assess the weight of evidence and highlight new achievements on the effects of prenatal and early postnatal exposure to toxicants, as well their effects on life development. PFAS was an important focus area at the conference. Several STEEP scientists presented their research on PFAS exposure sources, detection techniques, and the health consequences associated with PFAS exposure during development. The conference gave special attention to linking molecular, experimental and human studies; the application of biomarkers in the monitoring of exposure to hazardous substances; and addressed the use of prospective studies of birth cohorts. Learn more through STEEP (https://web.uri.edu/steep/pptox-vi-conference/)
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Testing for Pease:
Testing for Pease worked closely with other community leaders in New England to plan the first regional EPA PFAS meeting that took place in Exeter, New Hampshire, on June 25 & 26. Testing for Pease presented their community story on Monday night and also spoke during the public comment section. On Tuesday, Andrea Amico presented in the community panel to share the collective voice of the impacted communities and tell the EPA what the community recommendations are for their PFAS Management plan. US Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen also wrote a letter to the EPA following the regional meeting urging the EPA to act quickly and take the community recommendations into consideration.
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Toxics Action Center:
On June 8, MassDEP adopted new state guidance values for five different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS) in drinking water, setting more health-protective guidance for these chemicals poisoning the drinking water of tens of thousands of Bay-Staters. The new guidance requires that public drinking water cannot have more than 70 ppt total either individually or in combination for the following five PFAS compounds: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFHpA.
One concern with the new guidance is that it does not cover enough compounds under the PFAS umbrella, which includes over 3,000 individual chemicals that share a very similar chemical structure and properties. “If testing doesn’t include all PFASs, we’re still in the dark about the safety of our drinking water,” said Sue Phelan, Director of GreenCAPE on Cape Cod. “Perfluorinated chemicals should be regulated as a class.”
“We are very encouraged that MassDEP has taken this first step,” Kristen Mello, co-founding member of Westfield Residents Advocating For Themselves stated. “Considering the cocktail of PFAS left in our water from decades of AFFF use - some of which we can’t even detect yet - a lower limit for a combined total of all PFAS would be the most protective of the public health, particularly for those of us with decades of exposure under our belts.”
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Important Media Attention - Investigation, Regulation, Litigation, & Science:
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