The US Environmental Protection Agency has finalized stringent new regulations on levels of six perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in public water systems.
What are PFAS?
Used since the 1950s to make consumer products nonstick, oil-repellent and resistant to temperature change, PFAS chemicals have been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, fertility issues, high cholesterol, hormone disruption, liver damage, obesity and thyroid disease.
What are the new EPA Rules on PFAS?
Within three years, utilities which provide water to at least 15 service connections or 25 people will have to implement testing procedures and begin notifying the public about PFAS levels if they are above the new standard. They will then have five years to reduce levels, according to the new standards.
The new regulations do not apply to private property owner's well water. The regulations also do not apply to manufacturing facilities that use PFAS to create products,
“which is unfortunate the EPA did not go that far,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a consumer organization that monitors exposure to PFAS and other chemicals. “The full burden should not entirely be placed on drinking water utilities,” she said. “Really, the burden should be further upstream on those manufacturing polluters to stop the pollution at the source. We need more limits on the amount of PFAS that can be released by manufactureres into the air and water.”
Why are they called "forever chemicals"?
Called forever chemicals because they never break down in the environment, PFAS can take years to completely leave the body, according to a 2022 report by the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
“Let’s say you have 10 nanograms of PFAS in your body right now. Even with no additional exposure, five years from now you would still have 5 nanograms,” Jane Hoppin, director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. “Five years later, you would have 2.5 and then five years after that, you’d have one 1.25 nanograms. It would be about 25 years before all the PFAS leave your body.”
What can consumers do right now?
How can I find out the levels in my drinking water?
How can I limit the levels of PFAS in my drinking water?
For people served by public water systems, start by looking up levels of contaminants in your area, Andrews suggested. An advocacy nonprofit has created a national tap water database searchable by zip code that lists PFAS and other concerning chemicals, as well as a national map that illustrates where PFAS has been detected in the US.
If a local public water system does not test for PFAS or you use well water, try purchasing a test from a certified lab. In the new EPA regulations, PFOA and PFOS, two of the most well-studied and potentially toxic chemicals, cannot exceed 4 parts per trillion in drinking water. For another three chemicals — PFNA, PFHxS and GenX chemicals— the EPA is setting the maximum at 10 parts per trillion.
Filtering Your Water
Consumers can purchase an
under-the-counter water filter for their tap. NSF, formerly the National
Sanitation Foundation, has a list of recommended filters.
The water filters that are most
effective for PFAS are reverse osmosis filters, which are more expensive, about
in the $200 range.
Reverse osmosis filters can remove a wide range of contaminants, including dissolved solids, by forcing water through various filters. Granular activated carbon filters are more common and less expensive but not quite as effective or consistent for PFAS, although they too can remove a large number of other contaminants.
Installing a
reverse osmosis filter for your tap is the most effective way to remove potentially
toxic chemicals from your drinking water.
The important part is that you have to keep changing those filters. If you don’t change that filter, and it becomes saturated, the levels of PFAS in the filtered water can actually be above the levels in the tap water.
What about countertop pitcher filtering systems?
there are countertop water filters that do a good job of filtering PFAS and some other contaminants. Scientists at EWG tested countertop filtering systems on the market and posted their results online. The downside, of course, is the small amount of water they can filter at one time.
CLICK HERE
to see those pitchers
that scored highest
in eliminating PFAS
ADDITIONALLY:
Remember everyone: Drinking water is not the only way PFAS enters the bloodstream. PFAS is used in nonstick cookware and food packaging to make products resistant to stains, water and grease damage. Try to limit your use of food prepared and sold in such plastics, and never heat these products still in the package in microwaves or conventional ovens.
The US Food and Drug Administration has found food packaging materials like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and take-out pizza boxes are a major source of dietary exposure to PFAS. In February 2024, the FDA announced that manufacturers in the US would no longer be using certain PFAS chemicals in grease-proofing substances applied on paper and paperboard packaging.
Health advisories issued in June 2023 by the EPA found certain PFAS chemicals are even more hazardous to human health than scientists originally thought, at levels thousands of times lower than previously believed.
People in “vulnerable life stages” — such as during fetal development in pregnancy, early childhood and old age — are at high risk, the report said. So are firefighters, workers in fluorochemical manufacturing plants, and those who live near commercial airports, military bases, landfills, incinerators, wastewater treatment plants and farms where contaminated sewage sludge is used.
The National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, gives the following advice on how to avoid PFAS
at home and in products:
• Stay away from stain-resistant
carpets and upholstery, and don’t use waterproofing sprays.
• Look for the ingredient polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, or other “fluoro”
ingredients on product labels.
• Avoid nonstick cookware. Instead use cast-iron, stainless steel, glass or
enamel products.
• Boycott takeout containers and other food packaging. Instead cook at home and
eat more fresh foods.
• Don’t eat microwave popcorn or greasy foods wrapped in paper.
• Choose uncoated nylon or silk dental floss or one that is coated in natural
wax.
Enjoy looking through my Library
Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
I drink it morning through late afternoon.
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| Best Bean Ever! |
While on my vacation in Oregon I fell in love with the many varieties I discovered at Portland Coffee Roasters, as well as their Mission & History.
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