Read the full article by Sharon Udasin and Gemma Smith (Earth.org)
“The US faced a dearth of national action on these compounds, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), until the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set drinking water standards for some of them in April 2024. Soon after, the EPA declared the two most infamous forever chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), as hazardous substances, enabling a mechanism to hold polluters accountable.
Notorious for their persistence in the body and in the environment, PFAS are key ingredients in numerous household items, such as non-stick pans and waterproof apparel, as well as in certain types of firefighting foams. There are thousands of types of PFAS, all of which are manmade and many of which have been linked to serious illnesses.
The federal headway made in 2024 has since faced setbacks. This spring, the Trump administration’s EPA proposed a rule to rescind the drinking water standards for four of six types of PFAS, leaving only PFOA and PFOS subject to scrutiny. But even for those two compounds, globally recognized as carcinogens, the compliance deadline could be extended from 2029 to 2031. The EPA did, however, decide to uphold the Biden-era hazardous substance declarations.”…