The Horror of PFAS

You'll have noted that the little local Branch Pravda has been screeching about "PFAS" for quite some time.  PFAS are chemicals which do not break down easily; they were found in the water in Northern Wisconsin.

Little Pravda's screeching is part of a campaign orchestrated by the EPA.

So let's learn about PFAs!

...The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ratcheting up its two-year plan to ban the manufacture, use, and disposal of PFAS, short for perfluoroalkyl substances and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Those sound horrible. Most people probably wouldn’t want to be even near anything sounding like that, so banning them sounds right. But what exactly are they?

Beginning with everyday products coated with Teflon, PFAS are a broad range of compounds that prevent sticking and that repel moisture. That includes most plastics, nonstick cookware, water-resistant clothing, and products that resist grease, water, and oil, such as pizza boxes, tents, sleeping bags, and even dental floss. But that’s not all. PFAS are also in photographs, computers, printers, cell phones, cars, air conditioners, laundry detergent, shampoo, lotion, soap, makeup, carpets, prescription bottles, glass and windows, and hundreds of medical devices, from implants and catheters to surgical mesh and sterile containers. These chemicals are central to the function of fire extinguishers and firefighting foam (which airports are required by law to use) and are important components of windmills and solar panels. PFAS are everywhere....

(The fire extinguisher/firefighting foam uses are the source of the Wisconsin (and UP) complaints.)

There are thousands of different PFAs.  A couple are problems; they were discontinued TWENTY years ago, but may remain in landfills.  Even CDC remains uncertain about the health effects of most PFAs.

Regardless, EPA wants to make all PFAs "Superfund" goods, allowing EPA to retroactively fine manufacturers who did not know about any health matters until recently and take all of the PFAs off the market. 

Typical EPA move.

 ...EPA wants the chemicals removed but has no suggestions on how to accomplish that. Even the Sierra Club agrees that EPA guidance on PFAS disposal highlights “the fact that EPA does not have the monitoring methods or data to conclude that any of these methods are safe ways to contain PFAS wastes.”...

 Look again at the list of goods above, and start thinking about how to live without them.