The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly planning to ditch limits on some PFAS "forever chemicals." The limits are contained in what was promoted as "landmark" drinking water standards adopted last year by the Biden administration.
The Washington Post reports today that the EPA will maintain standards for some other chemicals while extending the deadline for compliance to 2031. The standards were adopted after studies found the chemicals were potentially cancer-causing and were present in the water supplies of 158 million Americans.
Environmental and public health groups were quick to denounce the plan.
“This is a public health betrayal, plain and simple. The EPA is bowing to industry pressure and leaving millions exposed to toxic PFAS in their tap water, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, in an email to ConsumerAffairs.
"Communities have waited decades for protection—now the EPA is pulling the rug out," Benesh said. "Science is clear: PFAS are dangerous even in tiny amounts. The agency must protect all Americans ... from the entire class of harmful PFAS.”
Paper straws
In the documents reviewed by The Post, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that the changes will provide “common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance.”
In March, the White House released a 36-page “National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws” that detailed the dangers of PFAS, saying the chemicals “are harmful to human health, and they have been linked to harms affecting reproductive health, developmental delays in children, cancer, hormone imbalance.”