This week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules requiring municipal utilities to remove several specific chemicals within the PFAS family from water supplies.
PFAS refers to a large group of industrial chemicals. The new regulations target a handful of the best-studied PFAS, which have been linked to certain cancers and birth complications.
Virtually all Americans have measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public health advocates across the country have been calling on federal and state governments to regulate PFAS in drinking water for years. Melanie Benesh of the Environmental Working Group characterized the EPA’s decision as “life changing.”
Benesh told PBS NewsHour’s William Brangham that PFAS contamination in the United States is pervasive, and that the new regulation is the most efficient way the federal government can reduce the public’s exposure to these hazardous chemicals.
Source: Science on PBS Newshour
