TOXIC AND PERVASIVE
Region’s experts discuss increasing concern over PFAS chemicals.
WESTFORD, Mass. — Polar bears. Pizza boxes. Breast milk. Stain-resistant carpeting. These seemingly unrelated things do have something in common: the hazardous chemical compounds known as PFAS.
Facts about PFAS contamination were highlighted at a recent regional workshop that drew experts from all across New England to discuss these “forever chemicals.”
More than 100 state regulators, consultants, medical experts, water district officials and environmental activists concerned about how to deal with the growing problem of PFAS attended the conference.
There are an estimated 4,500 man-made chemical compounds that are collectively known as PFAS, and experts warned that they are both dangerous and everywhere: in the human body, in drinking water supplies, near old industrial sites, military bases, closed landfills and in streams and rivers. The “forever” nickname relates to the way PFAS lingers in the body and the environment.
PFAS contamination became a major issue in Connecticut when tens of thousands of gallons of PFAS firefighting foam spilled into the “wild and scenic” Farmington River in June. State officials have found high levels of these chemicals in drinking water wells in Greenwich, Willimantic and
Ellington. A state task force is expected to issue a draft action plan for dealing with PFAS pollution on Oct. 1.
Although there are no legally enforceable federal standards for PFAS pollution, studies have linked these compounds to different types of cancers, immune system issues, reproductive and childhood development problems, high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes.
The recent daylong regional workshop hosted by the American Ground Water Trust offered a look at what states in NewEngland are doing to combat the PFAS threat and provided a lot of information.
Here's a quick look at some of the information discussed at the event:
Polar bears
PFAS contamination is now such a global phenomenon that the chemicals have been detected in polar bear blood in the Arctic, according to Norman Farmer, a PFAS expert with a major chemical inspection and certification company called SGS North America.
Breast milk
Studies have shown that PFAS in the body of a nursing mother tends to concentrate in her breast milk, said Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor at Harvard University. “A baby can get up to10 times as much PFAS as the mother has,” he warned. Grandjean said he is most worried by research showing PFAS can compromise the human immune system.
What’s safe?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a safety recommendation that levels of two types of PFAS chemicals in drinking water should total no more than 70 parts-pertrillion. Despite increasing pressure from Congress, experts said they doubt the EPA will act anytime soon to set strong standards over PFAS pollution.
Connecticut toughened its state standard slightly by adding in three more types of PFAS compounds. But states like New Hampshire and Vermont have recently adopted significantly stricter safety standards for various types of PFAS, down as low as 12 parts-per-trillion for drinking water.
“We don't really know what is a safe dose,” Grandjean said, “so we have to minimize it as much as we can.”
Grandjean said he is glad some New England states have adopted tougher PFAS drinking water standards, then added: “I'm sorry, it's not enough. We've got to do more.”
Pizza boxes
PFAS chemicals have for decades been used as a key ingredient in stain-resistant carpeting and pizza boxes to keep grease and oil from penetrating. Some studies have found that indoor carpeting can release PFAS into the air of people's homes, and Home Depot recently announced that it will cease selling carpet treated with PFAS by the end of 2019.
Farmer said the EPA has estimated that 4-5 billion pounds of carpet end up each year in landfills or trash-to-energy plants. He said he's seen estimates that three billion pizza boxes a year are disposed of in this nation.
PFAS leaching in groundwater from landfills is considered a prime source of PFAS pollution around the U.S. In Connecticut, the state has so far tested only two closed landfills for PFAS pollution — one in Hartford and another in Ellington — and found the chemicals leaking out from both.
Dry cleaners
“Every time we turn around there seems to be more potential sources [of PFAS pollution],” Farmer told those attending the workshop. He said he'd been surprised to find high levels of PFAS contamination coming from dry cleaners' wastewater.
Dead monkeys
One of the leading manufacturers using PFAS in their products was 3M, which provided the chemical compounds for use in non-stick cookware, waterresistant clothing and other consumer products.
Richard Head, a lawyer whodeals in environmental contamination cases involving PFAS, said that documents obtained during lawsuits show that 3M conducted PFAS tests on rhesus monkeys in 1979 but stopped the experiment after 20 days because all the monkeys had died. Those results weren't reported to the EPA at the time, according to Head.
At a recent congressional hearing, top executives denied they should be held responsible for medical bills and cleanup associated with PFAS.
Hollywood
PFAS is now the topic of two new films, and experts at the workshop said they hope this kind of increasing attention to the pollution issue will do a lot to alert the general public to the problem.
One is an award-winning documentary called “The Devil We Know” about PFAS pollution in West Virginia near a DuPont chemical plant. The film was released in 2018 and won a top award at the Sundance Film Festival.
The second is titled “Dark Waters,” a feature film starring Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins and Anne Hathaway about the same West Virginia PFAS pollution case and the lawyer who sued DuPont on behalf of area residents who saw their cows die and family and friends suffer increased incidences of disease. That film is scheduled for release in November.