Read the full article by Greg Barnes (NC Health News)
“John Sweitzer lives in a comfortable home surrounded by towering pines and more than two acres of privacy in northeastern Cumberland County, a world away – he thought – from the contamination caused by the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant.
But in early January, a brother-in-law who lives next door decided to have his well tested. The results came back positive for a potentially carcinogenic per-and polyfluoroalkyl substance known in the chemical world as PMPA.
State environmental regulators believe there is only one place the so-called forever chemical could have come from – Chemours – which is about 25 miles from Sweitzer’s home between the towns of Wade and Falcon.
That’s a whopping seven miles farther from the chemical plant than the previously known border of the contamination, which had been off Baywood Road between Vander and Eastover.
Since mid-February, more than 6,200 private wells in Cumberland, Robeson and Sampson counties have been found to contain GenX, PMPA and other forever chemicals, collectively known as PFAS.
How the contamination got here
After his brother-in-law received his test results, Sweitzer decided to have his own well tested. He called a number that connected him with a third-party testing outfit contracted by Chemours.
Sweitzer said his test results came back last week showing his well contained PMPA at 300 parts per trillion – five times higher than what was found in his brother-in-law’s well. Several of Sweitzer’s neighbors have had their wells tested, and ‘a few’ have come back positive, said Lisa Randall, a Chemours spokeswoman.
The Environmental Working Group, a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, says ‘PMPA and other perfluorinated chemicals can cause serious health effects, including cancer, endocrine disruption, accelerated puberty, liver and immune system damage, and thyroid changes.'”…