The PFAS Project Lab

Studying Social, Scientific, and Political Factors of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances

Publications & Presentations

Publications

  • “Persistent chemicals, persistent activism: scientific opportunity structures and social movement organizing on contamination by per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances” by Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Alissa Cordner, Andrea Amico, Phil Brown and Lauren Richter. Published in 2023 in Social Movement Studies. Link to the journal’s website [link] Downloadable version of the paper [link]
  • “Federal PFAS Testing and Tribal Public Water Systems” by Kira Mok, Derrick Salvatore, Martha Powers, Phil Brown, Maddy Poehlein, Otakuye Conroy-Ben, and Alissa Cordner. Published in 2022 in Environmental Health Perspective. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Improving Governance of “Forever Chemicals” in the US and Beyond” by Kimberly Garrett, Phil Brown, Julia Varshavsky, and Alissa Cordner. Published in 2022 in One Earth. Link to the journal’s website [link] Downloadable version of the paper [link]
  • “Presumptive Contamination: A New Approach to PFAS Contamination Based on Likely Sources” by Derrick Salvatore, Kira Mok, Kimberly Garrett, Grace Poudrier, Phil Brown, Linda Birnbaum, Gretta Goldenman, Mark Miller, Sharyle Patton, Maddy Poehlein, Julia Varshavsky, and Alissa Cordner. Published in 2022 in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “State Messaging on Toxic Chemical Exposure: Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and the Individualization of Risk on State Websites in the United States” by Helena Zindel, Martha Powers, Phil Brown, and Alissa Cordner. Published in 2021 in Environmental Communication. Link to the journal’s website [link] Downloadable version of the paper [link]
  • “The True Cost of PFAS and Benefits of Acting Now” by Alissa Cordner, Gretta Goldenman, Linda Birnbaum, Phil Brown, Mark Miller, Rosie Mueller, Sharyle Patton, Derrick Salvatore, and Leonardo Trasande. Published in 2021 in Environmental Science & Technology. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Improved Medical Screening in PFAS-Impacted Communities to Identify Early Disease” by Alissa Cordner, Phil Brown, and Isabella Raponi. Published in 2021 in Environmental Health News. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “COVID-19 as Eco-Pandemic Injustice: Opportunities for Collective and Antiracist Approaches to Environmental Health” by Martha Powers, Phil Brown, Grace Poudrier, Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Alissa Cordner, Cole Alder, and Marina Goreau Atlas. Published in 2021 in American Sociological Association. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Producing Ignorance Through Regulatory Structure: The Case of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)” by Lauren Richter, Alissa Cordner, and Phil Brown. Published in 2020 in Sociological Perspective. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “What Lessons Should We Learn from the PFAS Crisis?” by Phil Brown, Lauren Richter, and Alissa Cordner. Published in 2020 in Union of Concerned Scientists. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Environmental chemicals and public sociology: engaged scholarship on highly fluorinated compounds” by Alissa Cordner, Lauren Richter, and Phil Brown. Published in 2019 in Environmental Sociology. Link to the journal’s website [link] Downloadable version of the paper [link]
  • “Risky Business? Manufacturer and Retailer Action to Remove Per- and Polyfluorinated Chemicals From Consumer Products” by Elicia Mayuri Cousins, Lauren Richter, Alissa Cordner, Phil Brown, and Sokona Diallo. Published in 2019 in NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Guideline levels for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water: the role of scientific uncertainty, risk assessment decisions, and social factors” by Alissa Cordner, Vanessa Y. De La Rosa, Laurel A. Schaider, Ruthann A. Rudel, Lauren Richter, and Phil Brown (Winner2020 Best JESEE Paper from the International Society of Exposure Science) Published in 2019 in Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Participant Reactions to Medical Screening: A Survey of Satisfaction With the C8 (PFOA) Health Project” by Clare Malone, Gülnaz Çığ, Phil Brown, and Alan Ducatman. Published in 2019 in NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Non-stick science: Sixty years of research and (in)action on fluorinated compounds” by Lauren Richter, Alissa Cordner, and Phil Brown. Published in 2018 in Social Studies of Science. Link to an open-access version of the article on the journal’s website: [link]
  • “Can Chemical Class Approaches Replace Chemical-by-Chemical Strategies? Lessons from Recent U.S. FDA Regulatory Action on Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances” by Alissa Cordner, Lauren Richter, and Phil Brown. Published in 2016 in Environmental Science & Technology. Link to the journal’s website [link] Downloadable version of the paper [link]

Conference Presentations

Using the PFAS-Tox Database to Streamline Identification of Developmental Hazards
June 27, 2023 – Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention 2023 (BDRP), Katie Pelch

Techniques and Technologies to Remove Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) From Contaminated Soil and Water – A Literature Review on PFAS Remediation Options
June 21, 2023 – 2023 AEESP Research & Education Conference, Nicolette Peerman
View the poster presentation here

Landscapes of Ignorance and Knowledge Production in the Case of PFAS
June 12 – 13, 2023 – Environmental and Occupational Health: From Data to Evidence, Lauren Richter
View videos and presentations from the Sciences Po conference here

The PFAS Project Lab: Interdisciplinary Research on PFAS Problems
June 12 – 13, 2023 – Environmental and Occupational Health: From Data to Evidence, Alissa Cordner
View videos and presentations from the Sciences Po conference here

Social Costs of PFAS Contamination
May 25, 2023 – USDA-NRCS PFAS Summit, Alissa Cordner, Grace Poudrier

Environmental Justice & Inequality in PFAS Testing and Exposure
May 25, 2023 – USDA-NRCS PFAS Summit, Kimberly Garrett

Review of Population Demographics in Human Studies on PFAS and Reproductive Health
April 13, 2023 – Northeastern University’s Research Innovation Scholarship Entrepreneurship (RISE) conference, Sabrina Balmaseda and Julia Varshavsky
View the poster presentation here

Making the Invisible Visible: The PFAS Project Lab
March 23, 2023 – Collaborative for Heath & Environment, Alissa Cordner
View the webinar recording here

New “Presumptive Contamination” Model Maps PFAS Exposure
November 2, 2022 – Collaborative for Heath & Environment, Alissa Cordner, Kimberly Garrett
View the webinar recording here

Breaking Down Forever Chemicals
October 27, 2022 Colorado Riverkeepers, Alissa Cordner
View the webinar recording here

Firefighter Activism on PFAS Chemicals: Labor Leadership on Environmental Health
August 2022 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Alissa Cordner, Phil Brown, Kira Mok, Grace Poudrier, Jennifer Ohayon, Ayesha Khan, and Jaime Honkawa

PFAS and Chemical Class Consciousness: How Definitions of a Chemical Class Influence Regulatory Approaches
August 2022 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Alissa Cordner, Jennifer Ohayon, Phil Brown, Grace Poudrier, Miranda P. Dotson, Kira Mok, Lauren Richter, and Mya Heard

Environmental Justice and Environmental Monitoring: An Analysis of PFAS Testing in California
August 2022 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Alissa Cordner, Derrick Salvatore, Rosie Mueller, Phil Brown, and Klaudia Kyjovska

How Scientific Opportunity Structures Shapes Social Movement Organizing Around Contamination by Per-and Polyfluoralkyl Substances
2020 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Jennifer Ohayon, Andrea Amico, Lauren Richter, and Phil Brown

PFAS Project Lab – Publications and Ongoing Research as of June 2019
June 2019 – Phil Brown, Alissa Cordner, Lauren Richter, Jennifer Ohayon, Cole Alder, Kylin Brown, Elicia Cousins, Olivia Chagnon, Grace Poudrier, Jessica Rodriguez, and the PFAS Project Team
View the June 2019 poster here

Second National PFAS Conference – Social and Scientific Discovery
June 10-12, 2019 – Northeastern University
View videos and presentations from the 2019 PFAS conference here

Highly Fluorinated Compounds – Social and Scientific Discovery
June 14-15, 2017 – Northeastern University
View presentations from the 2017 PFAS Conference here

Environmental Justice and the Future of Environmental Health Research
April 28, 2017 – Rutgers University 
Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute, Phil Brown
Sticky Science: Sixty Years of Research and (In)Action on Fluorinated Compounds

Minnesota Department of Health
January 24, 2017
Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute, Lauren Richter, Alissa Cordner, and Phil Brown
The Social and Scientific Discovery of PFASs

CHE Conference Call
Toxics Action Center, Shaina Kasper
Bennington Vermont’s PFOA Story

Alaska Collaborative on Health and the Environment Teleconference
April 6, 2016
Whitman College, Dr. Alissa Cordner
Toxic Safety: Flame Retardants, Chemical Controversies, and Environmental Health

Local Environmental Action Conference
March 13, 2016


PFAS Project in the News

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