PFAs Update And Our Global To-Do List
There is enough news going on. Between a global pandemic, protests across the country, a bumbling gameshow host pretending to be President, and the financial struggles of over 40 million Americans out of work, letting PFAs slide under the radar for a while might be forgivable.
There has been a lot of action in this department, so I put together a very short selection of stories on where things stand. Like climate change, PFAs is an issue that has slid out of the headlines over the past few months, and to be fair, that isn’t a bad thing. But it does connect to so many of these same issues. Like COVID-19, PFAs contamination and the risk it poses to potable water affect lower-income neighborhoods. Additionally, it will pose more of a threat to communities who can’t afford clean-up efforts or to provide medical support to families affected.
Michigan — In my neck of the woods, the Wurtsmith Air Force Base near Oscoda has become the symbol of the PFAs issue in Michigan. Last week, the Air Force voiced a renewed commitment to cleaning up Clark’s Marsh, a wetland near the base, and recently returned a study showing every living creature testing for elevated levels of PFAs. As eager as the Air Force sounds, no concrete measures were discussed.
National — While the EPA has been kicking the proverbial can for decades, there has been a call for the Department of Defense to take the initiative. For over fifty years, the DoD exposed generations of military personal to PFAs in firefighting foam. Near military installations, over 14 bases have tested at levels reaching over 1 million parts per trillion, above the recommended level of just 70 ppt. More on the call for DoD to do the right thing by their military families and the surrounding communities here.
On-Going — And if you thought PFAs was only an issue for the past, it’s still being found in products currently on the market. Last week, Amazon was handed a class action suit for selling what claimed to be disposable plates. Instead, the lawsuit claims, the products contained PFAs, putting buyers at risk and adding the chemical to compost piles and dumps. The suit was filed in California, where the state also requires strict warning labels on any product that may contain carcinogens.
As difficult as the past few months have been, and as challenging as the next few months will be, the Covid-19 pandemic is an opportunity to rethink our global priorities and redirect efforts to tackle ambitious problems with the same vigor and commitment as we have the virus. After we accelerate the development of a vaccine in record time, let’s take that same investment and effort to tackle the biggest challenges in the world. Why not solve the climate crisis, give millions access to preventative healthcare, and ensure that the word “equality” actually means something?
Just as the virus won’t wait for us to catch up, neither with the pressing issues that have shaped and impacted generations of Americans. We have a long to-do list, and we had better get going
