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Washington, DC – Senator Jeff Merkley, Chair of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight, held a hearing today, December 5, 2024 on the public health impacts of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Moms Clean Air Force’s Senior Analyst for Petrochemicals Cynthia Palmer is available to speak to media about how these ubiquitous chemicals threaten the health of our families. Cynthia released the following statement:
“PFAS chemicals are everywhere. They are found in everything from food packaging to dental floss to the artificial turf our children play on. They are called ‘forever chemicals’ for a reason—they don’t break down in the environment and are known to build up in our bodies over time. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to serious health consequences, such as cancers, immune suppression, and reproductive problems, and our children are exquisitely vulnerable since their bodies are still developing.
“It’s time to clamp down on PFAS production, use, and incineration. There are many “low-hanging fruits” we can start with. For example, we should eliminate non-essential uses of PFAS, from umbrellas to frying pans to firefighting gear. We should ban the use of PFAS in fracking fluids, polluting the air and waterways near oil and gas facilities. And we should stop incinerating PFAS-containing plastics and other wastes, disseminating PFAS as air pollution. We should discontinue spreading PFAS-dense sewage sludge on our farmlands, contaminating the food we eat. And we need to stop kidding ourselves that plastics recycling is a solution to the plastics crisis. Plastics are made from fossil fuels combined with PFAS and other toxic chemicals – recycling plastics results in even higher toxicity plastics as well as vast amounts of microplastic pollution.
“We urge Congress to protect our children and our families by developing a comprehensive plan to turn off the tap on PFAS contamination.”