Safer Drinking Water Is Coming

Nov. 22, 2021 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promising a future with safer consuming water.

The company not too long ago requested its scientific advisory board to evaluate paperwork in regards to the well being results of sure chemical compounds present in consuming water and elsewhere within the surroundings, with new knowledge suggesting well being issues might happen at decrease publicity ranges than beforehand believed.

The chemical compounds in query are sometimes known as the “endlessly chemical compounds,” as a result of they do not break down and so they accumulate simply in each the surroundings and the physique. Collectively generally known as PFAS, each PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) have been linked to quite a lot of well being issues. The EPA additionally says PFOA is probably going cancer-causing.

The chemical compounds are discovered not solely in consuming water but additionally in a variety of on a regular basis shopper merchandise, from rain jackets to pizza bins, paper items, and anti-stick cookware. One draw is the chemical compounds’ skill to repel grime, rain, and grease.

The EPA motion “is a vital first step, however there may be vital work to be completed,” says David Andrews, PhD, a senior scientist on the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group selling higher environmental well being.

The EPA motion is not the one current one addressing PFAS contaminants. Last week, a bipartisan invoice launched in Congress would ban the “endlessly chemical compounds” from meals packaging, with a proposed efficient date of Jan. 1, 2024.

And the infrastructure invoice simply signed by President Joe Biden consists of $10 billion to deal with rising contaminants in consuming water, together with PFAS.

EPA’s Efforts on Drinking Water

After the EPA’s scientific advisory board critiques the brand new analyses, which can be found for public on the EPA web site, the data will likely be utilized by the EPA to tell well being advisories and to develop the utmost contaminant degree objectives and a nationwide major consuming water regulation for each chemical compounds.

As for timelines, the EPA says it should “transfer as shortly as attainable to subject up to date well being advisories for PFOA and PFOS after reviewing the brand new science and getting enter from the scientific advisory board,” based on a information launch issued by EPA. The advisories aren’t enforceable or regulatory; they’re meant to present states and public well being officers data on the well being results linked to consuming water contamination.

At the identical time because it critiques the brand new science, the EPA says it should work on the event of the proposed consuming water regulation for publication within the fall of 2022, with an efficient date of 2023.

Previously, the EPA has established a well being advisory degree of 70 components per trillion (ppt) in consuming water to guard the general public from publicity to PFOA and PFOS. The 4 draft paperwork with new knowledge “indicated that detrimental well being results might happen at a lot decrease ranges of publicity to PFOA and PFOS than beforehand understood and that PFOA is a probable carcinogen,” based on the EPA.

While producers have largely phased out manufacturing of the chemical compounds within the U.S., the chemical compounds are extraordinarily secure and persist within the surroundings.

Underlying the Concerns

So pervasive are these chemical compounds that most individuals within the U.S. have been uncovered and have PFOS and PFOA of their blood, the CDC says.

According to the EPA, human research have linked PFOA publicity to excessive ldl cholesterol, decreased vaccination response, elevated liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, and cancers of the testicles and kidney. PFOS publicity has been linked to excessive ldl cholesterol and reproductive and developmental adversarial results.

As manufacturing and use of each PFOA and PFOS have declined since 2002, the CDC says, blood ranges have declined from 60% to 80%.

More Perspective

“This is a really vital change within the evaluation of PFOS and PFOA [by the EPA],” says Andrews of the Environmental Working Group. “In the paperwork, the EPA for the primary time relied on research about PFAS impression on human well being” relatively than animal research. “As a end result, the company has modified its place on protected ranges of publicity.”

The newest knowledge signifies that “detrimental well being results might happen at a lot decrease ranges of publicity to PFOA and PFOS than beforehand understood and that PFOA is a probable carcinogen,” Andrews notes in an Environmental Working Group information launch.

The EPA’s earlier assumptions about protected ranges “have undervalued or miscalculated potential human hurt,” Andrews says.

Travis Loop, a spokesperson for the Water Environment Federation, whose members embody wastewater utilities within the U.S., says his group additionally helps “actions and laws for PFAS which are primarily based on credible science and developed after cautious deliberation.” Water utilities are receivers, not producers, of PFAS, and wish laws and legal guidelines to restrict publicity, he says.

Some States Won’t Wait

Frustrated by the EPA timeline, with the 2023 goal date for the regulation to take impact, officers in some states have moved ahead to make their very own laws on PFAS limits in consuming water. The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks these efforts.

Some states, together with Michigan and New Jersey, have already set limits for PFAS in consuming water which are stricter than the present EPA limits.

Individual Efforts

Safer Chemicals, Healthier Families is a corporation that seeks robust chemical insurance policies and educates the general public about the way to defend households from poisonous chemical compounds.

Its web site has updates on progress and ideas for the way to write firms to deal with contaminants of their merchandise. Current efforts embody campaigns to have REI cease producing outside gear merchandise with PFAS and to have Burger King cease wrapping their Whoppers in packaging containing the chemical compounds.