In the News

Duke study finds high PFAS levels in Pittsboro residents’ blood (NC Health News | October 29, 2020)
The study says about 1 million people may be drinking water that contains PFAS contamination that originates in the Haw River and flows downstream into the Cape Fear River.

FDA Delays Setting Limits on PFAS in Bottled Water (Consumer Reports | October 28, 2020)
The agency relies on outdated research to explain why it’s ‘premature’ to regulate the toxic chemicals, despite pressure from consumer advocates and a major industry group.

NC Nonprofits Petition EPA over PFAS (Coastal Review Online | October 14, 2020)
A half-dozen public health, environmental and environmental justice groups are demanding a federal response to alleged corporation negligence in handling chemical compounds that they say are poisoning residents of the Cape Fear region.

California bans PFAS firefighting foams (c&en | October 1, 2020)
California is halting the sale, manufacture, and use of firefighting foam containing PFAS by 2022. It is also prohibiting 24 chemicals from use in cosmetics.

Why dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ are allowed in US drinking water (The Guardian | September 24, 2020)
The federal government has still not set limits for PFAS compounds, and some allege that could be because it is a polluter of them itself.

Some sparkling water brands have PFAS chemicals, study finds (CBS News | September 24, 2020)
Consumer Reports researchers examined more than 40 brands of bottled water and found that sparkling water was more likely to include higher levels of the PFAS than still water.

EU agency sets limit on PFAS in food (c&en| September 17, 2020)
Food regulators in the European Union have updated their guidelines for protecting consumers from four types of PFAS in food.

PFAS-laced water caused infertility, premature births and low birthweight, study says (StarTribune | September 11, 2020)
Residents who drank water polluted with PFAS experienced elevated rates of infertility, premature births and low birthweight babies due to the contaminants, according to a multiyear review of health records.

EPA to ‘crowdsource’ new ways to destroy PFAS, local advocates say agency could be doing more (WECT | August 24, 2020)
The “Innovative Ways to Destroy PFAS Challenge” is a partnership between federal and state agencies seeking plans for non-thermal technologies that would safely destroy PFAS in aqueous film forming foam.

Chemours must keep PFAS from North Carolina river (c&en | August 17, 2020)
The state has ordered Chemours to prevent highly persistent fluorinated compounds from seeping from or washing off its factory site near Fayetteville, North Carolina.

NC Attorney General brings in national law firm for PFAS investigation (WRAL | August 12, 2020)
North Carolina has partnered with a national law firm with extensive experience in PFAS litigation, signaling a potentially significant expansion of the state’s legal efforts against companies that put PFAS into the air and water in North Carolina.

FDA Announces Voluntary Agreement with Manufacturers to Phase Out Certain Short-Chain PFAS Used in Food Packaging (FDA | July 31, 2020)
Manufacturers of certain PFAS used for grease-proofing in paper and paperboard for food packaging have voluntarily agreed to phase-out their sales of these substances for use in America.

Newer PFAS compound detected for first time in Arctic seawater  (Phys | July 29, 2020)
Researchers reporting in Environmental Science & Technology have studied the transport of 29 PFAS into and out of the Arctic Ocean, detecting a newer compound for the first time in Arctic seawater.

Obesity, Infertility, and Low IQ Are Just Some of the Ways Household Chemicals Wreck Our Health (Gizmodo | July 22, 2020)
A new Lancet analysis finds a growing number of endocrine-disrupting household chemicals have been linked to widespread health problems, including infertility, diabetes, and impaired brain development.

Why limiting PFAS in drinking water is a challenge in the US (c&en | July 13, 2020)
The EPA faces legal and other hurdles as it attempts to regulate legacy PFAS chemicals PFOA and PFOS. The agency currently has a nonbinding advisory for these chemicals, but to set an enforceable limit it must pass through a complex set of further steps.

Boron nitride destroys PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals PFOA, GenX (Science Daily | July 7, 2020)
Chemical engineers have discovered a photocatalyst that can destroy 99% of the ‘forever’ chemical PFOA in laboratory tests on polluted water. Researchers showed the boron nitride catalyst also destroys GenX, a PFOA replacement that’s also an environmental problem.

PFAS chemical PFHxS targeted for restriction in the European Union (c&en | June 28, 2020)
The European Commission this year will consider a proposal to restrict the manufacture or sale of perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts, or substances that degrade into PFHxS.

N.C. State study finds PFAS throughout Yadkin-Pee Dee River food chain (NC Health News | June 26, 2020)
Researchers say the PFAS could threaten the ecosystem, human health and an imperiled fish called the robust redhorse.

Scientists Pin Blame for Some Coronavirus Deaths on Air Pollution, PFAS, and Other Chemicals (The Intercept | June 26, 2020)
Almost six months into the coronavirus pandemic, it’s already clear that environmental pollution is responsible for some portion of the hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 deaths around the world.

US moves to exempt companies from reporting harmful chemical releases (The Guardian | June 24, 2020)
The exemption allows companies to bypass an EPA law meant to address widespread contamination from perflourinated chemicals.