Last month, the Government of Canada announced a plan to expand product-related regulations for per- and polyflourinated substances (PFAS). The Minister of Environment and Climate Change plus the Minister of Health are considering whether PFAS qualify for the Watch List under section 75.1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). According to Packaging Drive, Canada’s updated Draft State of PFAS Report and Revised Risk Management Scope for PFAS are open for public comments until September 11.
This plan hopes to “help importers, manufacturers, and Canadian consumers to select safer alternatives and avoid regrettable substitutions—replacing one problem chemical with another that, in turn, becomes a problem.” It comes after an onslaught of international research showing how these “forever chemicals” are associated with a wide range of things like firefighting foam, lithium-ion batteries associated with electric vehicles, furniture fabric, butter brands like Kerrygold, and many different kinds of personal care products.
According to research out of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, PFAS were found in almost all of the fish, from nine species that were tested in four different rivers in northern Illinois. In March, the Flint Group allegedly violated state law and stormwater permits, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This was due to firefighting foam spilling into Batavia’s Mahoney Creek. In nearby Winnebago County, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth helped to secure federal funding to upgrade their water infrastructure to address PFAS pollution.
Ohio’s Aqueous Flim Forming Foam (AFFF) Takeback Program has now gathered nearly 14,000 gallons of AFFF from 117 fire departments, according to the Ohio EPA. The Indiana Firefighter PFAS Biomonitoring Pilot Program is looking for firefighters in the state who are willing to receive a test kit in the mail. The kit will collect a drop of blood to study cancer rates among firefighters, to see if there is also a correlation to their protective gear.
Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan introduced two bipartisan bills related to PFAS. The Accelerating Department of Defence (DoD) PFAS Cleanups Act, aims to speed up this chemical cleanup and reduce the amount of Department of Defense products that use these substances.
“These important bills will help save lives, by requiring the Defense Department to swiftly target and clean up the most harmful PFAS contamination zones in defense communities like mine in Oscoda, Michigan, and to remove PFAS from the cleaning products used by service members and civilians in military operations,” said Tony Spaniola, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, in an interview with Kate Holloway of WLNS.
More PFAS News, in case you missed it:
- Gov. Evers announced the state’s first round of payments to Wisconsin municipalities, to combat infrastructure issues, like PFAS cleanup. This is from the shared revenue legislation, that was signed by the governor in June 2023.
- According to The Detroit News, toxic hot spots with chemical pollution, like “forever chemicals,” are harming birds in Michigan. Scientific results consistently showed how birds living in these environments struggle to reproduce and are are less capable of fighting disease.
- An encouraging new technique using LED lights, managed to achieve 100% defluorination from their PFOS (a chemical cousin of PFAS), overnight. This means, scientists were able to break down these chemicals otherwise known as substances that last “forever.”
- Engineers in California discovered microbes that are capable of severing some of per- and polyflourinated substances’ chemical bonds, which is why they are known as “forever chemicals.”
- Erin Brokovitch recently wrote in the New York Times opinion section, urging the U.S.’s next federal administration to act on the PFAS problem, especially after the rollback of Chevron deference.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
Featured image: PFAS foam on a beach near the decommissioned Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Iosco County, Mich. (Great Lakes Now Episode 1025)
