Inside EPA reports that yesterday Representative Dingell of Michigan, one of the co-authors of the PFAS Action Act of 2021, used the release of ATSDR's toxicological profile of PFAS last week to renew her call for the Biden Administration to clean up PFAS in the environment, remove it from our drinking water, stop ongoing releases of PFAS, and eliminate it from food and cosmetic products. Is that all?
PFAS have been used in everything from pans to pizza boxes since World War II. They're still basically unregulated by Federal Law and they haven't been regulated anywhere for more than a few years. As you might expect in the absence of regulation, not to mention the inability until recently to detect them at the concentrations now of concern to many, PFAs can be found in surface water bodies and groundwater from coast to coast, as well as in most of us.
But, contrary to Representative Dingle's suggestion, the ATSDR PFAS profile is more about what we don't yet know about PFAS and their effects on human health than what we do know. So, yes, we should act as quickly as we can to understand the effects these ubiquitous "forever chemicals" have on our environment, and on us. And then we should to act. Doing all of the things Representative Dingle suggests will take decades and cost billions, if not trillions, of dollars. Since there will be no quick fix to our PFAS quandary, our leaders need to prioritize actions as best they can and, in the meantime, avoid stoking fear in an already weary public.
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