Almost Half of U.S. Tap Water is Contaminated With 'Forever Chemicals'
upstart writes:
There are 12,000 types of PFAS, the USGS tested for 32 types across the country:
The U.S. ecosystem is riddled with PFAS. And a new study released this week by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) revealed that these toxic chemicals are in almost half of the country's tap water.
This is the first time a government agency has tested for and compared PFAS found in private and public water supplies throughout the country. 45% of the locations tested positive for PFAS chemicals. This stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. They're also commonly known as 'forever chemicals' because they don't break down over time in nature or in the human body. It is also used to describe over 12,000 different chemicals that can be found in everyday items like packaging and cosmetics. The use of these chemicals has been linked to various public health concerns, including cancer and birth defects.
[...] There are some steps that individual households can take to improve the quality of their tap water. Research from Duke University has found that at-home filters can remove some PFAS from drinking water, but they don't completely remove all of the chemicals from the water. And personal filters don't address the larger problem, which is the fact that companies are allowed to use PFAS in the first place, years after the public has known that major corporations have lied about the dangers of these chemicals.
3M, one of the country's largest PFAS manufacturers, recently said it would stop producing forever chemicals by 2026. Retailer REI also recently announced that it would ban all PFAS from its items including clothing by 2024. Major companies including DuPont and 3M have recently agreed to pay out billions of dollars in settlements due to the use of forever chemicals in their products. But this comes a little too late. Major manufacturers have known about the public health risks their products posed to the public for decades. The chemicals are already in our environment, the exposure risk will continue to persist until stricter regulations are put in place throughout the country.
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