Opinion Today: Why can’t we do more about exposure to ‘forever chemicals’?

Even new E.P.A. rules won't solve this problem, a writer argues.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story April 23, 2024 By Eliza Barclay Climate Editor, Opinion If you're a home cook, maybe you heard about the harmful "forever chemicals" in the coating of your Teflon or other nonstick pans. If you're a parent, maybe you heard about these same synthetic compounds, known collectively as PFAS, in booster seats and other water-resistant products for children. If you're a seltzer drinker, maybe you heard about the once worrying levels of PFAS in Topo Chico. There are many other examples. What started as a health mystery in small, rural communities near chemical plants has snowballed into a nationwide conundrum: "Forever chemicals" associated with cancer and other health concerns are accumulating in all of our bodies as a result of their pervasiveness in the environment and their presence in thousands of consumer and other products. And while the Environmental Protection Agency said earlier this month that for the first time it would require municipal water systems to reduce the levels of six of these compounds in drinking water, it seems as if we are only just beginning to reckon with pollution that is exceedingly challenging to rein in. As the writer Kathleen Blackburn, whose father died from colorectal cancer that, she believes, he developed as a result of PFAS exposure, argued in a guest essay published Sunday, it's time for more restrictions. "More than 12,000 formulations of PFAS exist and only a fifth of Americans' PFAS exposure comes from drinking water," she writes. "To reduce the risk they pose, we need far more comprehensive mandates that test, monitor and limit the entire class of PFAS chemicals," Blackburn concludes. Read the guest essay: Matt Black/Magnum Photos Guest Essay We Regulate a Tiny Fraction of the 12,000 'Forever Chemicals.' There's a Better Way. 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