The Environmental Protection Agency moved Friday to designate two “forever chemicals” utilized in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, a step that will clear the best way for faster cleanup of the poisonous compounds, which have been linked to most cancers and different well being issues.
Designation as a hazardous substance beneath the so-called Superfund legislation doesn’t ban the chemical substances. But it requires that releases of PFOA and PFOS into soil or water be reported to federal, state or tribal officers in the event that they meet or exceed sure ranges. The EPA might then require cleanups to guard public well being and get better cleanup prices.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. producers however are nonetheless in restricted use and stay within the atmosphere as a result of they don’t degrade over time. The compounds are half of a bigger cluster of “forever chemicals” often known as PFAS which have been utilized in shopper merchandise and trade for the reason that Forties. The time period is brief for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have been utilized in nonstick frying pans, water-repellent sports activities gear, stain-resistant rugs, cosmetics and numerous different shopper merchandise.
The chemical substances can accumulate and persist within the human physique for lengthy durations of time, and proof from animal and human research signifies that publicity to PFOA or PFOS might result in most cancers or different well being issues.
“Communities have suffered far too long from exposure to these forever chemicals,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan mentioned in an announcement Friday. “The action announced today will improve transparency and advance EPA’s aggressive efforts to confront this pollution.”
Under the proposed rule, “EPA will both help protect communities from PFAS pollution and seek to hold polluters accountable for their actions,” Regan mentioned. The rule is predicted to turn into last subsequent yr.
The Superfund legislation permits the EPA to scrub up contaminated websites and forces events accountable for the contamination to both carry out cleanups or reimburse the federal government for EPA-led cleanup work. When no accountable occasion may be recognized, Superfund provides EPA cash and authority to scrub up contaminated websites.
The EPA’s motion follows a current report by the National Academies of Science that calls PFAS a severe public well being menace within the U.S. and worldwide. It comes after an EPA announcement in June that PFOA and PFOS are extra harmful than beforehand thought and pose well being dangers even at ranges so low they can not presently be detected.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”