EPA Designates ‘Forever Chemicals’ As Hazardous Substances


On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency designated two “forever chemicals” used in cookware, carpets and fire-fighting foam as hazardous substances, allowing them to more quickly eliminate toxic compounds linked to cancer and other health problems. opened the way for purification to

Designation as a hazardous substance under the so-called Superfund Act does not ban the chemical. However, releases of PFOA and PFOS to soil or water that reach or exceed certain levels should be reported to federal, state, or tribal officials. EPA may then require cleanup to protect public health and recover cleanup costs.

Although PFOA and PFOS were voluntarily phased out by US manufacturers, they are still of limited use and remain in the environment because they do not degrade over time. It is part of a larger cluster of “forever chemicals” known as PFASs that have been used in consumer products and industries since the 1990s. The term stands for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and is used in nonstick frying pans, water repellent sporting goods, stain repellent rugs, cosmetics, and a myriad of other consumer products.

Chemicals can accumulate in the human body and persist for long periods of time, and evidence from animal and human studies indicates that exposure to PFOA or PFOS can lead to cancer or other health problems. increase.

“Communities have suffered for a very long time from exposure to these eternal chemicals,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement on Friday. and advance EPA’s aggressive efforts to combat this pollution.”

Under the proposed rule, “EPA will help protect communities from PFAS contamination and seek to hold polluters accountable for their actions,” Regan said.

The Superfund Act allows the EPA to clean up contaminated sites and forces the parties responsible for the pollution to either carry out the cleanup or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup efforts. To do. If the responsible party cannot be identified, the Superfund will give the EPA the money and authority to clean up the contaminated site.

The EPA’s action follows a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences calling PFAS a serious public health threat in the United States and around the world. This comes after the EPA announced in June that he said PFOA and PFOS were more dangerous than previously thought and now pose health risks even at levels so low they can’t be detected.

The FDA has issued a non-binding health advisory setting the health risk thresholds for PFOA and PFOS at near zero, replacing the 2016 guidelines set at 70 ppt. Chemicals are found in products such as cardboard packaging, carpets, firefighting foam, and increasingly in drinking water.

In its statement, the EPA is focused on holding responsible companies that manufacture and release large amounts of PFOA and PFOS into the environment, noting that individuals who “may have been inadvertently affected by contamination” It also said it is working on further outreach and engagement to hear from communities affected by PFAS contamination.

Eric Olson, a health and food expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the announcement helped clean up hundreds of contaminated sites across the country and protect millions of families exposed to toxic chemicals. I called it an important step to

“By listing PFOA and PFOS as dangerous goods under the Superfund Act, the EPA should be able to hold polluters accountable for their contamination,” he said. “Toll payers and utilities should not be paying for decades of industry wonton use of these dangerous chemicals.”

Anti-PFAS advocate attorney Rob Bilott said the EPA’s proposal was “a loud voice that the United States is finally acknowledging and accepting the now overwhelming evidence that these man-made poisons pose a grave danger to the public.” We will send a clear message to the world,” he said. health and environment. ”

Dr. Bilott, who revealed the widespread presence of PFAS chemicals in the environment and in human blood in the 2019 movie Dark Waters, said the EPA has made it clear that the cost of cleaning up the toxins is borne by PFAS manufacturers. I said we need to work on it. That caused the pollution – “not the innocent victims of this pollution who didn’t make toxins and weren’t warned that this was happening”.

Sen. Sherrie Moore Capito (RW.Va.) said she supported strong action to address PFAS contamination in West Virginia and across the country, but said, I was concerned about the results.

If finalized, “landowners, farmers, employers, key utilities, and individuals should be allowed to predate their owners by years or generations and come from an unknown source.” Even if you don’t, you could be unknowingly responsible for having PFAS on your land,” Capito said.

She called on the EPA to develop mandatory drinking water standards to promote the health and safety of all Americans.

The American Chemical Society, which represents major chemical companies, called the EPA’s proposal “an expensive, ineffective, and impractical means of achieving remediation for these chemicals.”

Listing chemicals under Superfund could harm local fire departments, water utilities, small businesses, airports and farmers, the group said. would impose enormous costs on these parties without defined cleanup standards,” the council said in a statement.

The EPA said it plans to propose national drinking water regulations for PFOA and PFOS later this year in a final rule scheduled for 2023.



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