Latency periods vary for PFAS compounds and type of cancer

From the Article by Allen Siegler, Mountain State Spotlight, May 2, 2023

State lawmakers passed the PFAS Protection Act to start controlling pollution in drinking water. While a step in the right direction, many are concerned that it prolongs health hazards for West Virginians.

In the 1990s, when Chuck Crookshanks worked as a teacher at Parkersburg South High, a student told him about her family’s farm and how dozens of their animals had grown physical deformities. “Not only the livestock, but also other animals near it,” Crookshanks recalled. “Deer, frogs and anything else that was around it. It was pretty remarkable.”

He said she was one of the first people he remembers raising concerns with the Washington Works plant in Parkersburg; a few years later, these concerns led to a mid-2000s high-profile lawsuit against chemical company DuPont, a lawsuit which linked the factory’s hazardous chemical pollution to diseases like kidney and testicular cancer.

Those chemicals are now often grouped with a broader group of cancerous, man-made concoctions called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. And PFAS, from both past and present polluters, continue to concern Crookshanks.

His house, between Ravenswood and the unincorporated town of Murraysville, is about 25 miles down the Ohio River from Washington Works. Crookshanks said his wife, Tammy, worries often about what invisible chemicals are present in the water from their well. “She brought it up probably in the last couple of weeks, wanting to get the water tested,” Crookshanks said.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it had reached a deal under the Clean Water Act for the plant, now owned by the Chemours Company, to address PFAS pollution. But the so-called “forever chemicals” have already been found in drinking water systems around the state.

While state lawmakers passed a bill in March to take steps toward identifying and contemplating action for affected public water systems, the bill does not require the state’s Department of Environmental Protection or any other group to remove the chemicals from drinking water yet. As a consequence, experts believe it could be years before many West Virginians can drink tap water and be assured that it won’t increase their risk of diseases like cancer.

“Why do you need another year or two years to figure that out when that’s been known for 22 years?” said Robert Bilott, an attorney with Taft Stettinius & Hollister who has led many lawsuits related to the chemicals.

Some monitoring, and some prolonged unknowns ~ Although there is scientific consensus that they increase health risks, PFAS are still used ubiquitously by manufacturing companies. The chemicals are effective at keeping liquids from seeping through material, and they are commonly used in products like candy bar wrappers and waterproof clothes.

When manufacturing plants use PFAS in their products, they can release them into the soil, water and air. All three methods risk contaminating people’s drinking sources, as chemicals released into the air can be absorbed by rain clouds and solid waste can seep into groundwater.

While the amount of PFAS in water is often highest at sites near polluting factories, it’s not uncommon for the chemicals to contaminate places far from the original source, meaning even West Virginians who live away from factories could still have the chemicals in their water.

“The thing about these forever chemicals is that they don’t break down,” said Angie Rosser, the executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition. “They accumulate in our bodies and accumulate in the food chain.”

The state’s new PFAS Protection Act intends to focus on contamination identified by a 2022 U.S. Geological Survey study of the state’s water treatment facilities. That study found nearly half of the facilities, many along the Ohio River or in the Eastern Panhandle, had at least one hazardous chemical above the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s recently-proposed regulations in their untreated water.

For the sites with documented contamination, the bill tasks the DEP with coming up with action plans that identify the source of the pollution and propose ways to limit West Virginians’ exposure. It also lays out plans for the government agency to test the sites’ water after treatment.

To combat future pollution, the bill requires West Virginia factories that discharge any PFAS into surface water to report that action to the DEP. It will limit the factories’ amount of pollution to the standards set by the federal government, and no more stringent, once they’re proposed and finalized.

While the Legislature did not designate money for the effort, DEP Deputy Director for External Affairs Scott Mandirola said the department is applying for federal grants, like funds from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to develop the action plans. “Our focus is on doing what the Legislature is telling us to do,” Mandirola said.

In the present, the bill doesn’t mandate any cleanup of PFAS in public drinking water. Some of that will likely come in the next two years, after the federal government finalizes its first-ever standards for the chemical under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Rosser worries about whether the action plans will prepare the WV-DEP to enforce the EPA’s future PFAS limits, but she thinks the bill will generate crucial data. “I would characterize it as a measured step,” she said.

Others are concerned the step is too measured, missing key information about the ways in which PFAS can endanger West Virginians’ drinking water. While the bill will provide more information about public water sources, it won’t monitor private wells that many, like Crookshanks, depend on. In an email, bill lead sponsor Clay Riley, R-Harrison, said if the state was to test private water, it would have required an additional bill that involved the Department of Health and Human Resources.

For Dr. Alan Ducatman, a WVU professor emeritus who has spent decades studying PFAS, that’s a big omission, as it’s how hundreds of thousands of West Virginians access water in their homes. “It’s hard to be confident that you know what’s going on if you’re worried about your personal water supply and can’t find that information,” Ducatman said.

Aileen Curfman lives in Berkeley County and also uses well water in her home. As the co-chair of the Sierra Club’s Eastern Panhandle group, she’s aware of the impacts PFAS can have and of the high levels recorded near her. As such, Curfman recently paid hundreds of dollars to test her water for the poisons. “There would be a lot of folks who could not afford it,” Curfman said.

It came back free from the hazardous chemicals. But if it hadn’t, she thinks she would have had to pay around $5,000 for a filter — something she thinks would have been necessary to ensure her water was safe to drink.

‘Getting the stuff out of the water’ ~ From Rosser’s understanding, the earliest that maximum PFAS drinking water contaminant levels would be enforced is 2025, meaning many West Virginians’ water will likely continue to be hazardous for the time being.

Bilott, the attorney who has litigated many PFAS-related cases, believes West Virginia’s continued-prolonging of any chemical cleanup to be unnecessary and inhumane. “DEP was notified that these chemicals were getting into drinking water supplies 22 years ago,” he said. “They should already have been doing this.”

Harry Deitzler, another attorney who has represented West Virginians harmed by PFAS, was dismayed that the state’s new oversight is limited to PFAS discharged directly into rivers and streams. From his experience in lawsuits he’s litigated, a major way the chemicals enter people’s drinking water is when they’re released into the air and enter the water cycle.

Riley didn’t answer why the PFAS Protection Act didn’t address airborne pollution, instead responding that most air regulation comes from the federal government.

When asked what state residents should do until enforcement takes effect, he said the “EPA is still trying to understand the science and impact related to PFAS. I recommend people educate themselves about the topic.”

Bilott rejected the premise that the EPA is still trying to figure out the health impact of the chemicals, and he pointed to their health guidelines released last summer as evidence. He thinks rather than calling for West Virginians to educate themselves, the onus should be on the companies that caused the health hazards. “It shouldn’t be the burden of the impacted community to address that contamination,” Bilott said.

To Ducatman, the professor emeritus with the WVU School of Public Health, there are many more steps both the WV-DEP and the state Legislature could take to protect residents’ health. Those include creating a robust effort to test private wells, prohibiting factories in the state from using PFAS unless the chemicals are essential and monitoring industrial pollution beyond self-reporting.

Ducatman realizes that this type of effort could be costly, time-consuming and resource-intensive. But, from a public health standpoint, he sees it as crucial for West Virginians. “People’s health will improve,” Ducatman said. “Have no doubt about that. Getting the stuff out of the water is good for people.”

Support Mountain State Spotlight ~ We are a nonprofit investigative newsroom that exists to give West Virginians the information they need to make our state a better place. As a nonprofit, we rely on your help to power our journalism. We are committed to lifting up voices that aren’t always heard and spotlighting solutions that are making a difference.

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See Also: US EPA Takes Unprecedented Action to Tackle PFAS Water Pollution, Tom Perkins, The Guardian, May 6, 2023

EPA has ordered chemical company Chemours to stop discharging high levels of toxic PFAS into the Ohio River at Parkersburg

Open fires following drought conditions are more common & increasing ...

From an Article by Harry Cockburn, The Independent (UK), May 30, 2019

Warming world and commercial pressures are putting country at risk of severe degradation, Scottish Natural Heritage warns.

Scotland faces numerous catastrophic impacts from the climate crisis which could leave the country with polluted waters, abandoned villages, dying forests and few remaining birds, the head of the country’s environment agency is to warn.

Outlining the apocalyptic scenario the country could face within the next decade, Francesca Osowska, head of Scottish Natural Heritage, will call for urgent action to tackle the environmental degradation already taking a heavy toll on Scotland.

Some of the biggest impacts include enormous wildfires which burned across swathes of the country in April and May, with one in Moray described as one of the largest wildfires seen in the UK in recent years.

Firefighters said lack of rain meant fires have quickly spread through peat and heather.

The country also faces the twin perils of both lack of water, and heightened risks of flooding, due to less rainfall, but rising sea levels which threaten low-lying coastal regions.

Warming temperatures have already changed the timings of spring events such as leaf unfolding, bird migration and egg-laying, as well as fish abundance and spawning locations, according to the Scottish government.

The country is failing to meet its own target to plant more trees with more land being given over to agriculture, while the salmon industry is already dealing with the impact of algal blooms due to climate change and pesticide use, and a surge in oil and gas exploration in the North Sea is expected to soon be under way which will further compound the problem.

“Let me paint you a picture of what we could have in Scotland in 2030,” Ms Osowska will say in her address at the Royal Society of Edinburgh this evening, according to The Times.

“Imagine an apocalypse – polluted waters; drained and eroding peatlands; coastal towns and villages deserted in the wake of rising sea level and coastal erosion; massive areas of forestry afflicted by disease; a dearth of people in rural areas and no birdsong.

“All of this is possible, and there are parts of the world we can point to where inaction has given rise to one or more of these nightmare landscapes.”

Ms Osowska will cite the UN report released earlier this month which paints a devastating picture of the planet’s biodiversity loss, with up to a million species facing extinction in the world’s sixth mass die-off.

She will describe it as “the most significant environmental report ever”, and say it is not too late to act. She will praise the Scottish government for declaring a “climate emergency” at the end of April, which pledges to cut net carbon emissions to zero by 2045.

Ms Osowska became chief executive of Scottish Natural Heritage in October 2017 and was previously director of the Scotland Office in Westminster, and also served as principal private secretary to Alex Salmond during his tenure as first minister of Scotland.

The Scottish government told The Times: “We agree that there is an urgent need to respond to the global climate emergency, on which Scotland is already demonstrating world-leading ambition.

“And we are also committed to doing all we can to ensure that Scotland’s environment is protected so that landscapes, wildlife and communities can continue to co-exist and flourish.”

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See Also: Midwest floods linked to climate change are devastating US farms, Quartz News, Michael J. Coren, May 30, 2019

Plastic pollution is now in the Great Blue Hole

From an Article by Jordan Simmons, EcoWatch.com, December 14, 2018

In a recent expedition, Gaelin Rosenwaks found plastic in the Great Blue Hole in Belize, Central America.

Did you know that 2018 was the year for plastic pollution awareness. One good aspect of the plastic crisis is the fact that we can solve it. Getting involved with solutions is an easy way to have our voices heard globally.

“The bottom line with plastic pollution is that there’s plastic everywhere,” said Gaelin Rosenwaks, founder of Global Ocean Exploration, during an EcoWatch Live interview on Facebook Thursday. The interactive live interview with Rosenwaks—who just got back from an expedition diving deep into the Great Blue Hole in Belize—inspired EcoWatchers to educate themselves on plastic pollution and commit to solutions.

“It doesn’t matter where you go … whether you are in the open sea … or at the bottom of the blue hole, you’re going to see plastic,” said Rosenwaks who brings cutting-edge research from global expeditions to the public through film and photography.

Education is the first step. We must understand and acquire the tools we need to solve this pervasive issue. Eliminating single use-plastic when possible is critically important, but to double that effort, we must survey how many items we use that are wrapped in plastic and work towards a zero-waste lifestyle.

Each time we refuse plastic whether it’s single use or plastic packaging, we are planting a seed for witnesses or companies to examine.

“The thing about plastic that’s a blessing in disguise is that it’s something that every single individual can do and have an impact,” said Rosenwaks. “Showing that as a consumer you care will hopefully drive industries to care and make changes.”

Tune in to the conversation above to find out more about solutions to plastic pollution and to hear from two passionate individuals who are not only tackling the problem of plastic pollution, but creating a better world for future generations through awareness and commitment.

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Depths of Belize’s Great Blue Hole, the World’s Largest Sinkhole, to Be Explored by Submarine

Information from The Weather Channel, November 29, 2018

Belize’s Great Blue Hole is one of the most awe-inspiring yet mysterious places on the planet, stretching over 1,000 feet across, more than 400 feet deep and standing out as a bold blue blob amid the light blue waters of Lighthouse Reef. And now, for the first time, we’re going to find out what it looks like below the surface.

Global entrepreneur Richard Branson and Fabien Cousteau — grandson of Jacques Cousteau, who took a one-man submarine into the Great Blue Hole in 1972, according to the USGS — are taking a submarine to the depths of the sinkhole this December to explore part of the Earth that’s never been seen before.

The underwater sinkhole sits some 60 miles off the coast of Belize City and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central America.

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SEE THIS NEW NEWS REPORT:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Cleaning up the plastic in the ocean – 60 Minutes – CBS News

Plastic debris is clogging the oceans

Pollution is now as dense in the northernmost ocean as it is in the Atlantic and Pacific.

From an Article by Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic Monthly, April 20, 2017

The Arctic Ocean is small, shallow, and—most importantly—shrouded. Unlike the other large oceans of the world, it is closely hemmed in by Asia, Europe, and North America, with very few watery entrances in and out. Some oceanographers call it the “Arctic Mediterranean Sea,” a nod both to its between-the-terra-ness and its similarity to that smaller ocean.

Often, that remoteness has played to its ecological advantage. Very few ships pass through the area (with all their attendant pollution and environmental disruption), at least compared to nearby waterways like the Bering Sea. It also helps that much of the Arctic freezes over every winter.

But a paper released this week in Science Advances argues that its location is now harming it. The first survey of the region has found that roughly 300 billion pieces of floating plastic, most of them tiny but visible to the unaided eye, have clogged the planet’s northernmost sea. The plastic, having been carried to the pole over decades, now has very few ways out.

In other words, the Arctic Ocean has become the Northern Hemisphere’s “dead end” for floating plastic.

“Our data demonstrate that the marine plastic pollution has reached a global scale after only a few decades using plastic materials,” said Andrés Cózar Cabañas, a biologist at the University of Cádiz. It is, he said, “a clear evidence of the human capacity to change our planet. This plastic accumulation is likely to grow further.”

The survey was carried out while the research vessel Tara circumnavigated the pole in late 2013. The same Tara cruise also surveilled local plankton populations and observed the aurora.

It found a couple key differences in how plastic pollution works in the Arctic. To the south, in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, plastic tends to accumulate in enormous subtropical “trash patches.” While these are not the dense and churning gyres of garbage that many people imagine, they can be accurately described as parts of the ocean with a lot of garbage in them. In a way, they’re like the asteroid belt, an otherwise void place in the world-ocean where plastic is much more likely to accumulate.

The Arctic does not so much have trash patches inside it; it is giant trash patch. The Arctic Ocean has about the same median density of plastic as the Atlantic and Pacific do. But unlike in the southern oceans, where plastic has unevenly congregated in certain areas, it has spread itself throughout the entirety of the Arctic.

Sometimes, though, it is quite dense: In the seas north of Iceland and western Russia, there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of plastic per square kilometer.

Martha Buckley, an oceanographer at George Mason University, agrees with the authors that plastic is not coming from the Arctic itself. This is “intuitive,” she writes: Few people live around that ocean’s coast, there is little ship traffic there, and most of the plastic is tiny enough that it seems to have spent several years in the ocean. (The paper’s authors estimate that it takes one to three years for plastic from the North Atlantic to make it to the Arctic.)

“It is pretty clear that this plastic has been transported by ocean currents. How the plastics are entering the Arctic is not as clear,” she told me in an email. The paper, for instance, doesn’t discuss transport through the ocean’s vertical currents. Over the last few years, research has suggested that gyres in the subtropics and subpolar regions are linked by deeper currents.

Ocean currents matter because they’ll help researchers learn if the plastic is trapped in the Arctic permanently or whether it will eventually work its way out. Other scientists are still trying to come up with solutions to the world’s long-term plastic problem. In the meantime, says Cabañas, the only way to fix the problem is to mitigate its scale. Countries and coastal communities should work harder to keep plastic from winding up in the ocean.

“We should properly manage the plastic waste at its source,” he told me. “Once the plastic enters the ocean, its destination and impacts are uncontrollable.”