Breaking Down Toxic PFAS https://earthjustice.org/features/breaking-down-toxic-pfas ;

Toxic chemicals known as PFAS and PFOS are found in everyday products like waterproof jackets and nonstick pans. They�re linked to cancer and endocrine conditions, and they�ve contaminated drinking water sources across the country .

�PFAS� is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Chemicals in this class of more than 5,000 substances are found in products like nonstick pans (e.g. �Teflon�), waterproof jackets, and carpets to repel water, grease, and stains. They�re also used in firefighting foam on military bases and in commercial airports. Even personal care products like waterproof mascaras and eyeliners, sunscreen, shampoo, and shaving cream can contain PFAS.

PFAS don�t easily break down , and they can persist in your body and in the environment for decades. As a result of their pervasiveness, more than 95 percent of the U.S. population has PFAS in their bodies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Exposure

PFAS have so far polluted the tap water of at least 16 million people in 33 states and Puerto Rico, as well as groundwater in at least 38 states. Tap water contamination is likely more extensive than documented, in part because studies often exclude private wells.

PFAS contaminate water supplies through two main sources: firefighting foam and industrial discharges. For decades, the U.S. military has used firefighting foam in training exercises at hundreds of bases around the country. Federal law long required these bases, as well as commercial airports, to use foam that contains PFAS. A Department of Defense report released in March listed 126 military facilities where water supplies were contaminated with PFAS levels above the EPA�s current standard.

The industrial release of PFAS is another major source of water contamination. In 2016, researchers discovered troubling levels of GenX in North Carolina�s Cape Fear River. The source was a PFAS manufacturing plant owned by The Chemours Company, a spin-off of DuPont.

Finally, PFAS can accumulate in the human body through food and food packaging. A study in 2017 found PFAS in one-third of all fast food wrappers, where it can easily migrate into greasy foods.

According to one senior CDC official, the presence and concentration of PFAS in U.S. drinking water presents � one of the most seminal public health challenges for the next decades .�
Studies of the best-known PFAS, called PFOA and PFOS, show links to kidney cancer and testicular cancer, as well as endocrine disruption in humans. Scientists have also discovered unusual clusters of serious medical effects in communities with heavily PFAS-contaminated water. Many such communities are near military bases.

First-generation PFAS are so toxic that U.S. manufacturers phased them out entirely by 2015 (though they still contaminate water supplies today).

Yet against the advice of more than 200 international scientists, chemical companies have replaced several older PFAS with other chemicals in the PFAS family. New PFAS such as GenX act a lot like old PFAS and may be as dangerous .