Instead, the agency says there are already ongoing human impact studies. As the agency learns more about the impacts of PFAS, EPA will continue to take action to protect human health and the environment,” according to the agency.Īs far as human testing goes, the EPA is not conducting the testing that the petition requests. The information gathered as a result of this testing will help EPA deepen its understanding of the impacts of PFAS, including potential hazards. EPA expects to exercise its TSCA section 4 order authority to require recipients of test orders to conduct and fund the studies. “EPA plans to require PFAS manufacturers to provide the agency with toxicity data and information on categories of PFAS. While the request specifically referred to Chemours, the EPA’s plan is aimed at all producers of these substances. “As the director of an environmental nonprofit who believed in and trusted the folks of this EPA to do the right thing, I am furious as a poisoned community member who is also grieving the loss of a firefighter brother whose cancer could be explained by this data, I am heartbroken,” Dana Sargent of Cape Fear River Watch said. However, the petitioners disagree with the press release and say it does not do what they had asked for, specifically, testing to determine the impacts these substances have on people. It requested the EPA “require health and environmental effects testing on 54 chemical substances the petition identifies as Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) released into the environment by The Chemours Company (Chemours) at its chemical production facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina.” The petition was first filed in October of 2020 by the Center for Environmental Health, Cape Fear River Watch, Clean Cape Fear, Democracy Green, Toxic Free NC, and the NC Black Alliance. EPA is fully committed to addressing this longstanding pollution challenge, and today we take another critical step forward to protect the water, air, and land we all depend on.” This data will also help us identify the sources of pollution so we can hold those accountable for endangering the public. “By taking action on this petition, EPA will have a better understanding of the risks from PFAS pollution so we can do more to protect people. “Communities in North Carolina and across the country deserve to know the potential risks that exposure to PFAS pose to families and children,” EPA Administrator Michael S. The EPA, however, says this is a good step towards providing people with potential risks of the substances being released into the air, water, and even ground. “This highly theoretical and unproven approach, which is based on complex computational models, rejects the recommendations of petitioners, more than 120 public health organizations, and dozens of leading scientists that EPA should focus testing on those PFAS that directly threaten human health,” it continued. In declining to require testing on additional PFAS produced by Chemours, EPA claimed it could determine their health effects by extrapolating from studies it plans to require on 24 ‘representative’ substances under its testing strategy,” according to a statement released by the petitioners on Wednesday. It said it would require limited testing on 7 of the 54 PFAS, but this testing had previously been announced in October under EPA’s general PFAS testing strategy. “EPA’s petition response did not announce any new studies on the 54 PFAS. However, environmental activists who submitted the petition say the EPA didn’t go far enough with their requirements. (WECT) - The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a petition that will compel companies that produce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to conduct testing on health effects.
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