Federal officials released stricter guidelines Thursday for human exposure to this industrial chemical, which has been touching water for decades due to its prevalence in consumer products.
Perfluorooctanoic acid, more popularly known as PFOA, has been detected in the tap water of many towns near industrial sites where it is manufactured.
A related concern is perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), which is used in firefighting foam.
Tighter guidelines issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for these chemicals came after years of mounting pressure from public groups and health experts. The new set limits were driven by recent scientific findings linking PFOA and PFOS to conditions such as testicular and kidney cancers and birth defects.
New Advisory Limit
“These advisories will help local water systems and state, tribal and local officials take the appropriate steps to address PFOA and PFOS if needed,” said Joel Beauvais, deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water.
According to the agency, long-term exposure to the chemicals at above 70 parts per trillion (ppt) concentrations could negatively impact health – a level that is significantly lower than its prior advisory based on short-term chemical exposure of 400 ppt.
The new guidance states that waters systems with PFOA and PFOS concentrations of above 70 ppt should immediately notify local residents and consult with drinking water agencies in their state.
The EPA emphasized that public notification is important in the case of pregnant or breastfeeding women, given the chemicals’ impact on developing fetuses and infants being nursed with formula that uses tap water.
As a result, more communities will qualify as having water at contaminated levels above recommended threshold.
The survey, however, did not include many smaller neighborhoods situated near sites using the chemicals for decades.
Testing in places where there are plastic-manufacturing plants such as Petersburgh in New York, and North Bennington in Vermont recently yielded PFOA concentrations of approximately 100 ppt in the drinking water. A second wave of testing in North Bennington had readings reaching 2,730 ppt, or almost 40 times the new advisory limit.
"No Safe Level Of Exposure"
The Environmental Working Group welcomed the new EPA guidelines but deemed them inadequate.
“[N]ew evidence suggests that there may be no safe level of exposure,” the group announced in a statement, adding that the advisory limit is not legally enforceable. “EPA has said it could be 2019 or beyond before the agency even decides whether to start the process of setting a legal limit.”
Beauvais maintained that they have made significant headways in addressing the presence of the toxic chemicals in water.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by some U.S. chemical firms in recent years, with eight more major companies committing to eliminate their use of the former by end of last year.
For a long time, these chemicals were widely used in clothing, carpets and furniture fabrics, food packaging, and other materials to make them resistant to water and stains. Prior to phasing them out, DuPont used PFOA to make Teflon while 3M’s Scotchguard contained PFOS.
Since then, according to EWG, EPA-mandated tests have found these two chemicals as well as others in the drinking water of over 6.5 million people from 27 U.S. states.
Both substances contaminate almost all Americans’ blood and are transferrable from the mother to the unborn baby, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated.
Photo: Steve Johnson | Flickr
