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PFAS Contamination in the U.S

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Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#41
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New York was actually the first state in the US to start regulating PFAS and PFOA sites in 2016. As of last year, maximum limits for public water went into effect. I believe testing has gone on for longer than that. EDIT: linked fixed https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/docs/...

That link doesn't work for me. Our local school district's most recent water testing seems to have just been for lead. It resulted in a 229 page document outlining how, when, and where they tested every single tap in all the schools and what the results were. I've not seen mention of PFAS testing in our schools, which is where I'd expect to see it first.

Here's a working link: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/docs/...

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#42
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New York was actually the first state in the US to start regulating PFAS and PFOA sites in 2016. As of last year, maximum limits for public water went into effect. I believe testing has gone on for longer than that. EDIT: linked fixed https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/docs/...

That link doesn't work for me. Our local school district's most recent water testing seems to have just been for lead. It resulted in a 229 page document outlining how, when, and where they tested every single tap in all the schools and what the results were. I've not seen mention of PFAS testing in our schools, which is where I'd expect to see it first.

Maybe it depends on how they expect the contamination to get in? Lead usually gets in through the local pipes, so it makes sense to test it at the taps. For contaminations that get in from the water intake at the plant it does make more sense to test them there.

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#43
post #41
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link doesn't work for me. Our local school district's most recent water testing seems to have just been for lead. It resulted in a 229 page document outlining how, when, and where they tested every single tap in all the schools and what the results were. I've not seen mention of PFAS testing in our schools, which is where I'd expect to see it first.

Here's a working link: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/docs/...

Thanks! This is good news!

It seems it just started at the end of last year, and my local watery authority is already publishing results on it: https://mcwa-wordpress-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl...

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#44
post #41
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That link doesn't work for me. Our local school district's most recent water testing seems to have just been for lead. It resulted in a 229 page document outlining how, when, and where they tested every single tap in all the schools and what the results were. I've not seen mention of PFAS testing in our schools, which is where I'd expect to see it first.

Here's a working link: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/docs/...

Thanks. I had copied the link from google on mobile, and tried to remove all the tracking referrers but missed some.

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a joke? "As a result of the lawsuits concerning the PFOA class-action lawsuit, DuPont began to use GenX, a similarly fluorinated compound, as a replacement for polytetrafluoroethylene in the manufacture of fluoropolymers, such as Teflon.[71][72] However, in lab tests on rats, GenX has been shown to cause many of the same health problems as PFOA.[73][74] The chemicals are manufactured by Chemours, a corporate…

This stuff drives me insane. Things like "BPA-free!" almost always translates to "We replaced it with something that's probably worse!" At some point, we have to figure out a way to crack down on companies that knowingly just switch from one troublesome chemical to a lightly tweaked version of the same thing.

We need a federal analogue act for industrial chemicals. Or, better yet, do what the EU reportedly does, and demand safety tests before allowing novel chemicals to be used, instead of 30 years later after someone notices the 1000% increase of obscure cancer rates near the Chemours plant.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Analogue_Act

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#46

PFOS/PFAS are such a shit fest. An unholy coalition politicians, gov't administration, scientists and corporate interest tried to cover up historical PFOS pollution around the 3M production site in Zwijndrecht (BE). They were caught red handed by a vigilant citizen journal when some politicians wanted to expedite some car-centric public construction works smack in the middle of the polluted area. The ministers for en…

To put a brand name to it.

The original "Scotchguard" was PFOS and it was reformulated in the early 2000s to PFAS which is believed to be less dangerous.

PFOS and PFAS are "fluorosurfactants" which are surfactants in the sense of "surface acting agents" but are very different from the usual soaps, detergents and disinfectants that help things mix. Applied to solid surfaces it does the opposite. It's pretty amazing that you can apply it to a rug, pour coffee on it, and it wipes right off without sticking.

Re: PFAS Contamination in the U.S

#47

PFOS/PFAS are such a shit fest. An unholy coalition politicians, gov't administration, scientists and corporate interest tried to cover up historical PFOS pollution around the 3M production site in Zwijndrecht (BE). They were caught red handed by a vigilant citizen journal when some politicians wanted to expedite some car-centric public construction works smack in the middle of the polluted area. The ministers for en…

To put a brand name to it. The original "Scotchguard" was PFOS and it was reformulated in the early 2000s to PFAS which is believed to be less dangerous. PFOS and PFAS are "fluorosurfactants" which are surfactants in the sense of "surface acting agents" but are very different from the usual soaps, detergents and disinfectants that help things mix. Applied to solid surfaces it does the opposite. It's pretty amazing th…

> to PFAS

This should be PFBS, according to Wikipedia. PFAS is the whole family of chemicals, PFBS is a particular member with a much shorter half-life than PFOS. “PFAS” getting a non-abbreviation moniker would sure help to disambiguate things.

Also from WP, Scotchgard now uses “a proprietary fluorinated urethane,” which means we know next to nothing about it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotchgard

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