[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: "Millions of Americans Are Ingesting a Chemical Some Experts Believe Has No Safe Exposure Level"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Millions of Americans Are Ingesting a Chemical Some Experts Believe Has No Safe Exposure Level

By Dan Ross
Truth out
January 25, 2018


Karen Deichelbohrer has lived in her home roughly three miles from Wurtsmith Air Force Base near the shores of Lake Huron, Michigan, for about 20 years. Her husband passed away two years ago. Her daughter moved out eight years before that. And Deichelbohrer, now 65, lives in the roomy four-bedroom house alone with her five cats and a dog.  

Deichelbohrer's home now feels too big for her and her pets, and she would like to sell up and move to smaller surrounds. However, tests conducted on her private drinking water well showed that it has been contaminated with toxic Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS). These human-made chemicals are used ubiquitously in industry, including the manufacturing of nonstick cookware, textiles, paper and paints, as well as firefighting foams used for decades at military bases like Wurtsmith.

The tests on Deichelbohrer's well showed levels of PFAS contamination below a federal advisory around which there's much discrepancy between experts, some of whom say the threshold isn't nearly protective enough of people's health. Authorities have issued Deichelbohrer a filter for her kitchen tap water, but the water piped to the rest of her house is untreated, she said. And she's concerned that, unless her home is permanently connected with the cleaner municipal drinking water supply -- a costly procedure -- it will be difficult to sell.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43247-millions-of-americans-are-ingesting-a-chemical-some-experts-believe-has-no-safe-exposure-level


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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