NJ may regulate military fire-fighting foam chemical PFOS
Maximum Contaminant Limit for PFOS would help protect human health over a lifetime of exposure to the chemical, which has been linked to cancer, immune-system problems
Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:
New Jersey scientists are urging the state to impose a strict limit on a chemical that has been linked to cancer, developmental problems, and changes to the human immune system in the latest move to curb the presence of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in drinking water.
The Drinking Water Quality Institute will this week consider a recommendation to set a limit of 13 parts per trillion (ppt) for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) as the level at which human health would be protected over a lifetime of exposure.
The limit, proposed by the DWQI’s health effects subcommittee, would be the strictest set by any state, and would build on New Jersey’s growing status as a national leader in the regulation of a family of chemicals that are found at higher concentrations in New Jersey’s drinking water than in most other places.
The plan to regulate PFOS follows similar recommendations for two related chemicals, PFNA and PFOA, which are being assigned “Maximum Contaminant Limits” (MCLs) by the Department of Environmental Protection after research by DWQI scientists over the past three years.
PFOS and other PFCs were made for consumer products like fabric coatings and nonstick cookware over more than 50 years and were phased out by the main U.S. manufacturer in the early 2000s because of concerns about their health effects.
Firefighting foam
But the chemicals are still used in some applications, notably in firefighting foam on military bases such as New Jersey’s Maguire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base, where nearby waterways have been contaminated.
The chemicals persist in soil, ground water, and surface water because they have stable carbon bonds that are extremely resistant to degradation in the environment, according to the DWQI panel’s report. PFCs are widespread in the environment, and have been found in fish and even in polar wildlife.
Sources include wastewater treatment plants, industrial discharge, and landfills the report said, in a draft that will now go out for public comment.
The DW QI plans represent an effort to set tough limits on a set of chemicals that have no federal regulations even though they are the subject of a health advisory by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA sets a looser level of 70 ppt for PFOS and PFOA combined. New Jersey recommends “guidance levels” on some PFCs but not on PFOS.
Tightest standard in U.S.
“The proposed drinking-water standard for PFOS in New Jersey would set the most health protective standard in the country for exposure to this toxic chemical,” said Dr. David Andrews, senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for tighter controls on PFCs and other contaminants. “The federal government has failed to protect Americans from PFOS contamination or set a legal limit for this contaminant and New Jersey is stepping up to protect health.”
While the new level would set a higher bar than that used by federal or other state governments, it’s still not clear whether 13 ppt is safe, given that drinking-water exposure just adds to that from other sources such as food, consumer products, and household dust, Andrews said.
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