Children can be exposed to a toxic medley of per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) from carpets, according to a peer-reviewed study published today in Chemosphere. But the good news is that daycares, schools, and families can eliminate this exposure source by replacing older carpets. Read more…
INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS known as PFAS have contaminated soil and water near an incinerator in upstate New York that has been burning firefighting foam. The facility is run by Norlite, whose parent company Tradebe contracted with the Department of Defense to burn the foam known as AFFF, as The Intercept reported in January 2019. The analysis of three soil and four water samples collected near the Norlite incinerator in Cohoes, New York, which appears to be the first environmental testing done near an AFFF incineration site, revealed the presence of 10 PFAS compounds that have been associated with the foam. Read more…
Outdoor apparel companies have been slower to remove harmful chemicals from waterproof jackets, as performance concerns keep them from going totally green.
OF THE HALF-DOZEN coats hanging in my closet, all but one are made for trudging around in the outdoors. Each of these jackets has an invisible coating of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances that makes them waterproof. If your closet is similar, your jackets have similar coatings, as the outdoor apparel industry has relied on these chemicals for decades. Read more…
Rep. Chris Pappas has a pollution double whammy in his New Hampshire congressional district. A plastics manufacturer contaminated public water wells with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the town of Merrimack. Residents of the town learned in 2016 that they had been drinking water laced with tasteless, odorless toxic chemicals for two decades. In another part of the district, firefighting foam used at an Air Force installation contaminated the surrounding environment with PFAS. Read more…
At least 2,500 industrial facilities across the nation could be discharging the toxic fluorinated compounds known as PFAS into the air and water, according to an updated EWG analysis of government data. EWG reviewed two online databases from the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as data from a survey by the state of New York, and identified 2,501 unique industrial sites that are known to produce or use PFAS, or that are suspected of using PFAS. Read more…
The State of New Jersey has stood up for public health and against forever chemicals. New Jersey has now adopted one of the strictest standards in the nation for PFOA and PFOS. This is a big step forward towards protecting public health from toxic forever chemicals. By adopting these standards, DEP is protecting the roughly 1.6 million people who are exposed to these chemicals in New Jersey. Read more…
PORTSMOUTH — The federal agency conducting the health study for people exposed to dangerous PFAS chemicals at the former Pease Air Force Base has paused its work. The Agency For Toxic Substances And Disease Registry (ATSDR) paused the study because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrea Amico, a Portsmouth mother and advocate who played a key role in getting the health study started, called the move “a very responsible decision.” Read more…
Exposure to a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, during pregnancy can influence obesity in granddaughters two generations later, according to findings accepted for presentation at the Endocrine Society Annual Meeting. Read more…
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