EPA and NCEH Updates on PFCs (PFOA and PFOS)

PFCs, PFOA and PFOS are becoming the latest spotlight issue in a long line of military base contamination concerns. The following attachment reveals the latest guidelines for PFCs (PFOA and PFOS) put out by both the EPA and the National Center for Environmental Health.

Civilian Exposure Resource – CDC PFAS Clinician Fact Sheet

Additional News and Notes from 2017:

Water utilities should notify consumers when perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) exceed 70 parts per trillion—individually or combined—in drinking water, under new guidelines released on May 19 by EPA.

In addition, new legislation requires that the Pentagon must now disclose incidents of water contamination at military bases.

“The spending bill for fiscal 2017 … included a provision that would require the Defense Department to identify all of the hundreds of military bases where drinking water may have been contaminated by firefighting foam,” E&E News reported.

This applies specifically to firefighting foam that is now tainting groundwater with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in communities on or near military bases across the country

“The provision amounts to the first federal mandate to the Defense Department to deal with the potentially widespread contamination, and what is likely to be billions of dollars’ and years’ worth of cleanup. The chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, have been linked to health risks, but are not regulated by the EPA,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

According to ChemicalWatch, “the main US PFOS manufacturer ceased production in 2002 through voluntary agreements.”

Other Recent News Articles on PFOA/PFOS:

• Shaheen Calls for National PFC Health Study
• Congressman Brendan Boyle’s Bill Would Set National PFC Standard
• Senator Schumer: “We’re Fed Up With DoD on PFCs”
• Did Military Bury Info on PFC Threat to Drinking Water?

EPA resources for PFOA/PFOS:

• EPA’s Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFOA and PFOS
• PFOA and PFOS data collected under EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule
• EPA’s stewardship program for PFAS related to TSCA
• EPA research activities on PFASs