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Do you know how much your candidates for the November 8 general election know about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)? What is their stand on legislation related to the forever chemicals, known as PFAS? With a US WILPF mini-grant, the Burlington Branch has developed a Google PFAS Candidates Survey that has a dual purpose: to educate future legislators about PFAS and to find out where these individuals stand on legislation regulating PFAS.
WILPF Burlington will email its candidate survey to you and to any branch that wishes to conduct its own survey. All you or your branch needs to do is secure your list of candidates for the general election from your Secretary of State and decide who you want to send the Google survey to and how you want to share the results.
This election year will bring many new candidates to public office across the country. Those elected will have the opportunity to shape local, state, and national policy on many important issues, such as serious environmental toxins like PFAS.
PFAS has been all over the news lately. On June 15, 2022, EPA drastically lowered their maximum PFAS levels recommendations. However, the EPA issued interim updated drinking water health advisories for only two of the many forms of PFAS: PFOA and PFOS.
While the most studied, PFOA and PFOS are a small part of types of PFAS, a class of over 9,000+ manmade chemicals. The updated advisory levels, which are based on new science and consider lifetime exposure, indicate that negative health effects may occur with concentrations of PFOA or PFOS in water that are near zero parts per trillion (ppt). Currently, no labs can detect PFOA or PFOS (or other types of PFAS) at amounts below 2 ppt. The previous EPA advisory limit was 70 ppt.
If you want to learn more about PFAS and its dangers and prevalence in our environment, visit WILPF’s website at www.militarypoisons.org
If interested in more information on PFAS and WILPF’s related activism, contact PFASinfo@wilpfus.org.
Marguerite Adelman
Earth Democracy Committee
PFASinfo@wilpfus.org
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