State expert recommends blood testing for PFAS contaminant
Chris Van Buskirk State House News Service
Published Jul 7, 2021
BOSTON — A number of recommendations to prevent and manage exposure to PFAS chemicals were presented by experts Tuesday to the state's task force investigating the health affects of the chemicals in water.
The recommendations ranged from offering blood tests to people in areas exposed to PFAS to additional funds for statewide research to education, and surveillance. Additionally, the experts suggested passing laws restricting the use of certain firefighting foam and food packaging that contain PFAS.
Tracking pollution: PFAS in Cape Cod water more widespread than previously known
Phil Brown, Ph.D., director of the Northeastern University Social Science Director Environmental Health Research Institute, offered the advice as state legislators and other interested parties take a deep dive into the effect of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, on public health and the environment.
During a Tuesday morning hearing, members of the PFAS Interagency Task Force — co-chaired by Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, and Rep. Kate Hogan, D-Stow — focused on water and ground contamination ahead of issuing a report by Dec 31.
"Legislatures and health environmental agencies should be testing water in locations with likely contamination," Brown said. "They should offer blood testing to people in exposed areas and proactively target testing, both for water and blood, in low-income and BIPOC communities, and they should in fact prioritize the EJ (environmental justice) communities for remediation."
'Forever chemicals': PFAS detected in Chatham drinking water wells
PFAS is a group of chemicals that have been used since the 1950s to create stain- and water-resistant fabrics and non-stick products, according to the state. While they are more commonly used in consumer products such as food packaging, outdoor clothing, leather goods and cosmetics, the chemicals also appear in certain types of firefighting foam that can then seep into groundwater.
"And of course, we don't know all the sources," Brown said. "Originally, we thought mainly production facilities and industries that incorporate PFAS. Later, we started to see how extensive it was with firefighting foams. And then more recently, we started to see landfills, the wastewater treatment plants, sludge, food packaging, food grown on that sludge, and septic systems."
The issue, experts and state officials say, is that the chemicals do not break down easily and stay in the environment for a long time. Exposure to at least one kind of PFAS can lead to thyroid diseases, kidney cancer, high cholesterol, and testicular cancer, among other things, according to information presented by Brown from the C8 Science Panel, which performs research on the health outcomes of exposure to the chemicals.
At the task force's first meeting in early June, the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection recommended that state regulators expand PFAS surveillance to waste disposals, landfills and the atmosphere.
The clean up: Barnstable County OKs nearly $1M to cap PFAS-polluted site, demolish buildings
Marc Nascarella, director of the Department of Public Health's Environmental Toxicology Program, said some people are exposed to PFAS chemicals through drinking water that becomes contaminated mostly through point source solution.
Massachusetts regulates maximum contaminant levels in drinking water for six PFAS variants at 20 parts per trillion. DEP found PFAS chemicals above that level in just over 50 public water systems, according to an online map created by the department.
"To give an example of what 20 parts per trillion would look like, that's approximately equal to a grain of sand in an Olympic-sized swimming pool," Nascarella said. "The Massachusetts drinking water standard is more stringent than the federal EPA guideline, and (Department of Environmental Protection) has also enforced PFAS at hazardous waste sites in Massachusetts."
Brown said it's good the state is regulating six PFAS variants but "we really need to be taking this to a higher level."
"Many of the things that we see in replacement chemicals are the same problems that we've seen in the original ones," he said. "So the compounds that have replaced the long (chemical) chains, now that are short chains, have extensive contamination as well."
Long- and short-chain PFAS refer to the number of atoms making up the chain in the molecule.
Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Silent Spring Institute in Newton, said blood testing for PFAS-impact communities is important for addressing the concerns of residents. She also said it is important to consider conducting longitudinal studies that evaluate health effects over people's lifetime and additional testing of local foods in areas that have PFAS contamination.
Federal legislation to regulate PFAS could get House vote this month
Jeannette Hinkle Cape Cod Times
Published Jul 8, 2021
A sweeping bill that would regulate PFAS chemicals at the federal level recently cleared a key committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The PFAS Action Act of 2021 passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 23 with a 33-20 vote. The bill is now likely headed to the House floor, possibly within a few weeks.
If signed into law, the legislation could have significant implications for Cape Cod, where tests have shown detectable levels of PFAS in private drinking water wells and municipal water supplies.
Just this spring, testing found detectable levels of PFAS in three of Chatham’s nine public drinking water wells. In one well, levels were more than twice the level allowed by the state, causing the town to immediately shut the well down.
Background: 'Forever chemicals' detected in Chatham drinking water wells
While other sources are being investigated, Joint Base Cape Cod, the Barnstable Municipal Airport and the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy have all been identified as known sources of the migrating man-made chemicals, which were present in firefighting foam used at the sites.
PFAS (or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade in the environment, and can build up in people’s bodies over time. The chemicals are linked to health problems, including kidney and testicular cancer, lower infant birth weights, liver problems, and immune system effects. Researchers are now seeking volunteers who lived in Hyannis after 2006 for a study about the human health effects of PFAS exposure through drinking water.
You could help: Did you live in Hyannis after 2006? PFAS researchers need your help
After Harvard University researchers published a study this year showing previously undetected PFAS chemicals in Cape watersheds, former Barnstable County Administrator Jack Yunits said the PFAS problem is so widespread, so difficult and expensive to fix, that the federal government should step in to help.
“Until the federal government takes the lead on this, we're all going to be running in circles because nobody knows how to handle it,” he said. “Nobody knows.”
Understanding the scope: PFAS in Cape Cod water more widespread than previously known
The PFAS Action Act — introduced by Michigan Reps. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, and Fred Upton, a Republican — would essentially compel the federal Environmental Protection Agency to more strictly regulate future use of PFAS and contribute to cleaning up water supplies already polluted by the chemicals.
The bill has some bipartisan support among its 27 sponsors. In addition to Upton, Republican representatives from Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina have signed on.
U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat, is the only sponsor from Massachusetts. Her office did not return a request for comment.
Dingell and Upton introduced a version of the bill in Congress' previous session. While the legislation passed the House in January 2020 with a 247-159 vote that included 24 Republicans voting in favor, it never came to a vote in the then Republican-controlled Senate.
At an April press conference marking the bill’s reintroduction, Dingell expressed optimism about the PFAS Action Act’s passage during this Congressional session.
“I'm hopeful things will be different with the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Biden-Harris administration, who have committed to addressing the PFAS crisis,” she said, before calling on Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make the bill a priority.
This week, she struck a similar tone.
“The American people need the PFAS Action Act enacted into law without delay — and the Energy and Commerce Committee’s passage was a huge step in combatting the PFAS crisis,” she said in an emailed statement. “This bill will likely move to the House floor in late July, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass it in the House again. I always say, we cannot predict anything in the Senate, but I will work to ensure my Senate colleagues — both Republican and Democrat — make this legislation a real priority.”
U.S. Rep. William Keating, a Democrat who represents the Cape and Islands and lives in Bourne, will be voting in favor of the bill when it reaches the House floor.
“I voted in favor of this bipartisan legislation when it came before the House last year, and I intend to vote in favor again this session and hope that the Senate will finally put it to a vote,” Keating said in a statement.
“This legislation will not solve the Cape's issues, but it will move forward the timeline in which the EPA must take action going forward, regardless of who is in the White House,” Keating added. “PFAS was not adequately prioritized under the last administration, and the EPA even weakened some rules in the waning days of the Trump Administration.”
Scott Faber is the senior vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, a non-partisan environmental research and advocacy organization that worked with Dingell’s office to offer advice on the bill’s contents.
Faber said the PFAS Action Act would serve as a significant first step in addressing the PFAS pollution crisis.
“The EPA has known about the risks of PFAS since at least 1998 and has failed to protect us,” said Faber, who is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. “This bill doesn't give EPA any new powers. It doesn't give it any new tools that it doesn't already have. It just tells EPA to use the tools in the toolbox in a timely fashion.”
“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle agree that PFAS contamination is a public health emergency,” he said.
The PFAS Action Act of 2021 would:
Set a national drinking water standard for two PFAS chemicals within two years
While some states, including Massachusetts, have begun to set limits on the amount of PFAS allowed in drinking water, the federal government has no enforceable drinking water standard for the chemicals.
“The vast majority of states have not set drinking water standards for PFAS, so utilities are under no obligation to remove the PFAS before they send tap water down the pipes,” Faber said.
The PFAS Action Act would require the EPA to set a national drinking water standard for two of the most well-researched PFAS chemicals — PFOS and PFOA — under the Safe Drinking Water Act within two years. The standards could also apply to other PFAS chemicals, if the EPA administrator chooses.
Water suppliers would then have a five-year grace period during which they would face no financial penalties for violating the standard. The grace period is intended to allow time for the implementation of PFAS treatment systems that would bring the water into compliance.
Designate PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law
The PFAS Action Act would compel the EPA to — within one year of the legislation's passage — designate PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known as "the Superfund law."
Within five years of passage, the EPA would have to determine whether all PFAS compounds should be designated as hazardous substances under the Superfund law.
Why is the “hazardous substances” designation so important?
Faber said that without the designation, the Department of Defense won’t treat PFAS contamination as a priority for clean-up.
Locally, Joint Base Cape Cod is a known source of PFAS groundwater contamination. Nationally, more than 600 military installations could be contaminated with PFAS, according to Department of Defense data cited by the Environmental Working Group published earlier this year.
“Much of the source contamination leads back to military facilities who are not aggressively taking the steps needed to clean up PFAS contamination that puts the American people, our service members and their families at risk, as well as jeopardizes our overall readiness and our national security,” Dingell said in April after reintroducing the bill.
Classifying PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law would also mean that polluters would bear at least some of the monumental cost of cleaning up the PFAS contamination they caused, Faber said.
“I think anyone who lives on the Cape would agree that it shouldn't just be the taxpayers who bear the cost of clean-up,” Faber said. “The polluters who knowingly created this mess ought to share some of the costs of clean-up.”
Place a moratorium on new PFAS in commerce
PFAS, used to create stain- and water-resistant and non-stick products, are found in everyday goods ranging from cosmetics to cookware to sunscreen.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by most manufacturers, but thousands of PFAS formulations are still being produced for use in commerce, according to a June 14 memo authored by staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The PFAS Action Act would place a five-year moratorium on the introduction of new PFAS into commerce.
“The bill says, we kind of put the cart before the horse when it comes to toxic pollutants like PFAS, where we simply don't ask enough of the questions about health effects before we allow them to enter commerce,” Faber said. “This bill would change that.”
The bill would also direct the EPA to develop a voluntary “PFAS-free” label for cookware and other consumer products that are made without the chemicals.
Fund community water systems affected by PFAS
Keating, who said his office has been aggressive in monitoring federal legislation regarding PFAS, said the biggest concern he hears from municipal leaders on Cape Cod is how to fund clean-up of the chemicals.
Barnstable has spent $20 million over the last six years to remove PFAS from its municipal water supply, and Chatham officials believe that town could be facing similar costs to clean the chemicals from its drinking water.
The PFAS Action Act would require the EPA to establish a grant program available to community water systems affected by PFAS pollution within 180 days of the legislation’s passage. Grants awarded by the EPA under the program would be used to pay for the costs associated with implementing a PFAS water treatment system.
The Act would authorize $550 million for the grant program from fiscal year 2022 to 2026.
Is that enough?
“No,” Faber said. “Truthfully, we don't yet know the full cost of PFAS clean-up but it will certainly be billions of dollars.”
