Water

Per-and polyfluorinated substances, known as PFAS, are often characterized as “emerging contaminants.” However, ask the residents living in the communities polluted by decades of unregulated discharges of these chemicals and they’ll tell you that it’s a contamination crisis that has arrived long ago.

EWG today applauded Reps. Chris Pappas (D-N.H) and Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) for introducing legislation to regulate discharges of the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS into rivers, lakes and bays.

EWG News Roundup (6/28): Here’s some news you can use going into the weekend.

The Senate today passed a defense spending bill including a bipartisan amendment to dramatically expand efforts to monitor the scope of the PFAS contamination crisis and eliminate a major source of the contamination.

Drinking water contaminated with nitrate could be responsible for more than 12,500 cases of cancer each year, according to a peer-reviewed study by Environmental Working Group presented today at a conference of leading cancer and environmental health experts.

Toxic PFAS chemicals, notorious for contaminating drinking water supplies across the U.S., are harmful to nearly every human organ, and the immune system is particularly vulnerable. PFAS mixtures, which are used in a variety of consumer products, can be found in the bodies of nearly every American and in the developing fetus.

A bipartisan amendment proposed for the Senate version of an annual defense spending bill would dramatically expand efforts to monitor the scope of the toxic PFAS chemical contamination crisis.

At least 475 industrial facilities across the nation could be discharging the toxic fluorinated compounds known as PFAS into the air and water, according to an EWG analysis of government data.

Toxic algae blooms are a growing epidemic, polluting lakes and other waterways across the U.S., as a 2018 EWG report revealed. They can occur any time, but they thrive when water is warmer, usually from May through October.