The EPA said in a statement that it is focused on holding responsible those who have manufactured and released significant amounts of PFOA and PFOS into the environment. The chemicals are found in products including cardboard packaging, carpets and firefighting foam and increasingly found in drinking water. The agency issued nonbinding health advisories that set health risk thresholds for PFOA and PFOS to near zero, replacing 2016 guidelines that had set them at 70 parts per trillion. The move follows an EPA announcement in June that PFOA and PFOS are more dangerous than previously thought and pose health risks even at levels so low they cannot currently be detected.
The proposed rule would provide the agency with improved data and the option to require cleanups and recover cleanup costs to protect public health, he said. Regan said many sources of PFAS contamination are near communities already overburdened with pollution. The EPA’s action follows a recent report by the National Academies of Science that calls PFAS a serious public health threat in the U.S. Under the proposed rule, “EPA will both help protect communities from PFAS pollution and seek to hold polluters accountable for their actions,” Regan said. “The action announced today will improve transparency and advance EPA’s aggressive efforts to confront this pollution.” “Communities have suffered far too long from exposure to these forever chemicals,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Friday. The chemicals can accumulate and persist in the human body for long periods of time, and evidence from animal and human studies indicates that exposure to PFOA or PFOS may lead to cancer or other health problems. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor PFAS is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are used in nonstick frying pans, water-repellent sports gear, stain-resistant rugs, cosmetics and countless other consumer products. The compounds are part of a larger cluster of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that have been used in consumer products and industry since the 1940s. manufacturers but are still in limited use and remain in the environment because they do not degrade over time. PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. The requirement would increase understanding of the extent and locations of the contamination and help communities avoid or reduce contact with the potentially dangerous chemicals, the EPA said. The designation means that releases of long-lasting chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS that meet or exceed a certain quantity would have to be reported to federal, state or tribal officials. The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is designating some toxic industrial compounds used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances under the so-called Superfund law.
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