PFAS

Credit: CC0 Public Domain The EPA's long-anticipated proposal to regulate a new category of toxic substances in drinking water may shift the financial burden onto utilities and ratepayers, industry groups warned. On March 14 the agency proposed regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act that would set enforceable regulations for…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal that would limit the amount of forever chemicals allowed in the nation’s drinking water to the lowest levels that can be detected on tests. The move will address rising concerns about how widespread PFAS exposure contributes to health concerns like liver disease, birth defects, and cancer.PFAS, which are per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are commonly called ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not break down in nature or in the human body over time. The…

Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.After more than a year of pressure from environmental groups, the major outdoor retailer REI announced on Tuesday that it will ban hazardous “forever chemicals” from all its clothing and cookware by fall 2024.REI’s new product standards will require its suppliers to eliminate all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from the pots, pans, apparel, shoes, bags, packs, and similar gear sold…

Mega-manufacturer 3M, which makes everything from tape to medical masks to electronic components, said it will cease all production of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by the end of 2025, in a press statement released Monday. The announcement follows multiple lawsuits and inquiries into pollution linked to the company’s facilities, which have cost 3M billions of dollarsand counting.On top of vowing to “exit all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025,” 3M also specified it would “work to discontinue use of PFAS…

PFAS are among the most insidious pollutants, thanks to their ubiquity, their long life and their growing list of linked health concerns. But now researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a new method to break them down more effectively, using hydrogen and UV light.PFAS is a group containing thousands of chemicals that are heat-resistant and water-repelling, and so have been commonly used for decades in everyday items like non-stick cookware, food packaging and waterproof clothing.…

Photo: Bruce Bennett (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.Last week, REI Co-op stores around the country closed for Black Friday. It’s a company tradition dating back to 2015, where the outdoor retailer asks customers to “opt outside” rather than participate in a post-Thanksgiving shopping spree.But there’s one thing that REI hasn’t yet opted out of: a class of compounds known as “forever chemicals.” By using these chemicals in its water-resistant…

Graphical abstract. Credit: Environmental Science & Technology (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c03962 As a growing number of communities are forced to confront PFAS contamination in their groundwater, a key hurdle in addressing this harmful group of chemicals lies in unraveling how they move through a region of the environment called the unsaturated zone—a jumble of soil, rock and water sandwiched between the ground's surface…

California is suing 3M Co. and DuPont de Nemours Inc. along with other manufacturers of PFAS, a collection of chemicals that have been linked to health issues including cancer and are commonly found in consumer products such as fabrics, food packaging and cookware. The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court Thursday, alleges that a total of 18 defendant manufacturers made products containing PFAS, commonly known as…

Researchers have determinedthat the country is dotted with tens of thousands of locations that may be contaminated by PFAS, which are per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances—aka forever chemicals that do not disintegrate over time in nature or in the human body. Now, they’re mapping those sites to help regulators better direct resources toward cleanup efforts.A new study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters estimates that there are over 50,000 PFAS-contaminated sites throughout the United…

Photo: NKnN (Shutterstock)Even the name makes the problem seem intractable: “forever chemicals.” This group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, broadly called PFAS, are persistent organic pollutants that don’t readily degrade and can affect human health, with links to liver problems, infertility, thyroid disruption, birth defects, hypertension, and many other harmful effects. They’re in our water, clothes, food, dust—even in umbilical cord blood—and there may be no safe level of exposure. Can anything be done?Where…