Headline Roundup • May 29th, 2024
Is Your Drinking Water Safe? 'Forever Chemicals' Raise Contamination Concerns
Summary from the AllSides News Team
How safe is drinking water in the United States? The Biden administration and environmental groups are pushing for companies to cut down on the use of “forever chemicals” that have been detected in drinking water at high levels.
What are Forever Chemicals? An article in the Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) described forever chemicals as chemicals that “are nearly impossible to break down naturally and are linked to health troubles such as liver and kidney disease, immune problems, and certain cancers.” Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl are two forever chemicals used in the production of a “wide range of consumer goods, such as nonstick cookware, camping gear, and fast-food packaging.” The Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are proposing new rules limiting allowable levels of forever chemicals in drinking water.
Where is Drinking Water the Safest? Newsweek (Center bias) reported on a map created by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) showing where forever chemicals were detected above the EPA’s proposed limit. While nearly every state had drinking water contaminated above the EPA’s limit, “North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, central Colorado, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida” reported especially high levels.
Corporate Contamination: ProPublica (Lean Left bias) investigated 3M, a multinational conglomerate, finding the company “allowed [forever chemicals] to seep into all of us while sitting on research that showed the chemical is toxic.” According to the report, 3M first became aware of the contamination in the 1970s, but “the company kept making the compound until 2000.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
After years of reporting on forever chemicals, ProPublica reporter Sharon Lerner had one question that still nagged at her. She knew that a handful of 3M scientists and lawyers had learned in the 1970s that the chemical PFOS had seeped into the blood of people around the country and that company experiments around that time had shown that PFOS was toxic. But the company kept making the compound until 2000. How, she wondered, had 3M kept its dark secret for decades? For years, no one who knew what had happened...
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A drinking water map created by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) from a collection of national data reveals the concerning number of drinking water systems with levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, exceeding proposed limits across the U.S.
PFAS encompass thousands of man-made chemicals found in everyday items such as nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, grease-resistant food wrappers and water-resistant clothing. PFAS, known as "forever chemicals" because of the long time it takes them to break down, can cause harm in high exposure amounts.
During the breakdown process, PFAS...
The Biden administration is tightening the screws on “forever chemicals” used in the production of a wide range of consumer goods, such as nonstick cookware, camping gear, and fast-food packaging — a push that industry groups argue is overly restrictive and will drive up costs.
The rules are part of a yearslong Environmental Protection Agency-led push to crack down on air and water pollution from perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, which are nearly impossible to break down naturally and are linked to health troubles such as liver and kidney...
