‘Forever Chemicals’ May Pose a Bigger Risk to Our Health Than Scientists Thought

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Growing evidence of PFAS' danger prompts new guidance for safe drinking water and health care:

Alarm about the health impacts of these chemicals has sparked a recent flurry of action from U.S. public health and regulatory officials. Warning that PFAS pose a greater health risk than previously thought, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June dramatically lowered its recommended safe levels of the chemicals in drinking water.

"The updated advisory levels are based on new science, including more than 400 recent studies which indicate that negative health effects may occur at extremely low levels, much lower than previously understood," Radhika Fox, assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Water, said in June at the Third National PFAS Conference, held in Wilmington, N.C.

Soon after, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released the first clinical guidelines quantifying blood concentration levels of PFAS that could put someone's health at risk. The 300-page report urges clinicians to recommend regular blood tests for anyone exposed to high levels of the chemicals and to provide information on how to limit exposure, such as installing special filters known to reduce PFAS in drinking water.

In the United States alone, by one measure, the tally in medical care costs and lost productivity from PFAS exposure linked to five medical conditions adds up to at least $5.5 billion annually, researchers at New York University reported July 26 in Exposure and Health. Those conditions include low birth weight, childhood obesity, hypothyroidism in women, and kidney and testicular cancers.

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