Bill says chemicals should be regulated as a class, not individually, to better protect public health
New Jersey lawmakers are working to set strict health limits on so-called forever chemicals as a class rather than regulating them one by one, as now happens.
Since there are thousands of the chemicals and only three subject to health limits in New Jersey’s drinking water, it would make sense to subject all of them to state regulation to reduce public exposure to substances that are linked to some cancers, immune impairment, developmental problems in young children and other serious health conditions, supporters say.
A bill (S-3176) that cleared a Senate committee would require the Department of Environmental Protection to examine the feasibility of regulating the chemicals as a group and to work with scientists at the state’s Drinking Water Quality Institute and report back to lawmakers within two years.
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The measure is one of five bills introduced by Sens. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) and Linda Greenstein (D-Mercer) in early October that would strengthen the state’s efforts to protect public health from the chemicals, which are formally known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The other four bills have yet to go before their first legislative panel, the Senate’s Environment and Energy Committee, which is chaired by Smith.
‘We in New Jersey have a huge problem with PFAS chemicals.’ — Sen. Bob Smith
Smith and other advocates for tighter regulation of the chemicals say New Jersey’s current limits on three of the most found types of PFAS chemicals don’t come close to shielding consumers from the class as a whole because there are so many of them, and that New Jersey has a higher rate of PFAS contamination than many other states because of its long industrial history.
Mass action?
In the last eight years, New Jersey has set strict limits on the presence of PFOA, PFOS, and PFNA in drinking water, becoming a national leader in efforts to curb the chemicals. But those efforts aren’t enough to fully protect public health, advocates say.
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