Read the full article by Mike Tony (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
“They’re in our clothes, our food and our blood. We made them virtually indestructible, but there’s evidence that they can destroy us.
They’re per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), industrial chemicals whose extensive contamination and deleterious health effects have left a toxic legacy in West Virginia.
But West Virginia’s congressional delegation isn’t on the same page when it comes to recently reintroduced federal legislation designed to protect Americans from PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’ that don’t break down in the human body and the environment and can be found in food, household products and drinking water.
Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Fred Upton, R-Mich., last week announced legislation that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a national drinking water standard for two of the most extensively found PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS).
The PFAS Action Act would designate PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances within one year and requires EPA to determine whether to list other PFAS within five years, require the EPA to place discharge limits on industrial releases of PFAS, mandate comprehensive PFAS health testing and create a voluntary label for PFAS in cookware.
The PFAS Action Act of 2021 is largely identical to a version that the House of Representatives passed last year before stalling in the Senate without a vote there…”