‘Everybody’s Contaminated’

In the past couple of weeks, local news outlets across the US (to the extent they still exist) have published articles on dangerous chemicals polluting our waterways. That’s because the Waterkeeper Alliance just published an exhaustive report on “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” more handily known as PFAS.

The Alliance found PFAS in 95 out of 114 waterways tested across 34 states and the District of Columbia, frequently at levels that exceed federal and state limits. That’s 83 percent of waterways, rife with “forever chemicals,” so-called because PFAS just don’t break down, ever.

As the Alliance describes them: “PFAS are a class of manufactured organic chemicals that are pervasive in the environment and are linked to harmful public health and ecosystem impacts. Health risks include increased incidence of cancer, liver and kidney disease, reproductive issues, immunodeficiencies, and hormonal disruptions.”

PFAS have been used in manufacturing since the 1950s – in non-stick cooking pans, food packaging, water- and stain-resistant clothing, and in a host of industrial uses. “They are biopersistent,” explains the report,“meaning they remain in organisms indefinitely without breaking down, and are bioaccumulative, meaning that over time, they build up in ever increasing amounts in people, wildlife, aquatic life, and the environment.”

Back to local news headlines. “'Forever chemicals' detected in almost all U.S. waterways,” said Cascadia Daily News (Washington).

“‘Everybody's contaminated’: Maine hunters worried about PFAS contamination in animals,” fretted CBS affiliate WGME. 

“York County creek samples show highest levels of 'forever chemicals' in the country,” according to the York Daily Record (Pennsylvania).

“Report says portion of Coosa River has highest levels of PFAS pollution in the state,” grouses ABC 33/40 in Alabama.

And so on. What do we do about this? The Waterkeeper Alliance recommends a Clean Water Act reboot that would specifically address PFAS, but we doubt we’ll see much of that kind of talk in the news. Rapacious forces are too invested in dismantling environmental regulations to institute new ones. A perfect recipe for forever chemicals.

Read the full report at waterkeeper.org.

Photo credit: Waterkeeper Alliance