The chemical compounds are all around you.
At hearings around the country last year, local and state officials asked the agency to set a maximum level for PFAS in drinking water nationwide.
Manufacturers say newer forms are safer and don’t remain in the human body as long as older types.
The 2005-2013 study monitored and tested nearly 70,000 people who had been drinking water tainted with PFOA, one of two kinds of PFAS since phased out of production.
The federal toxicology report also says EPA’s ‘advisory level’ of 70 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS – the two older, phased-out versions – in drinking water is too weak.
EPA-mandated testing of about 5,000 of the roughly 150,000 public water systems in the US that was completed in 2016 found dangerous levels of the same two PFAS compounds in 66 systems.
Tests found drinking water contamination exceeding the EPA’s health advisory for a lifetime of exposure for two PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA.
Michigan agencies plan to sample a variety of wild game, such as ducks and other waterfowl, for the chemicals.
They already test fish and deer.
___ Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan,