Toxic Recipe: EPA rollbacks, immunity for polluters, and increasing threats to public health

In Brief:  

• EPA is proposing to roll back established protection from PFAS in drinking water. Furthermore, some lawmakers seek immunity for PFAS polluters.
• This double whammy to environmental protections will result in increased exposure to PFAS and higher rates of adverse health effects.
• This is contrary to the MAHA goals for reducing and preventing chronic disease.  

Nearly 200 million Americans drink water with unhealthy levels of PFAS, a highly toxic class of chemicals, so EPA established historic new drinking water standards last year to reduce allowable levels of PFAS in drinking water systems. While the 2024 standard covers only six of the over 15,000 known PFAS, the current administration is proposing to remove the standard for four of the six regulated PFAS and delay compliance requirements for the other two, which means more people will be exposed to higher levels of health-harming PFAS.

PFAS are manufactured, imported, used, and disposed of in vast quantities in the US (millions of pounds per year). Despite voluntary reductions in production and use of certain highly toxic PFAS, like PFOA and PFOS, since 2002, PFAS are still found in nearly everyone tested in the US and have been measured in far-away places like the Arctic, in rainclouds, and the deepest parts of the ocean. When PFAS manufacturing, use, or disposal facilities are sited near residential communities, people nearby have higher levels of PFAS in their blood due to contamination of soil, air, and drinking water supplies.

It is essential for people’s health to reduce PFAS exposures because they don’t break down in the environment and accumulate in people’s bodies. PFAS are known to increase the risk of decreased fetal growth and kidney cancer and are likely to increase the risk of breast and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, and pregnancy complications, like preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. PFAS are also known to decrease the efficacy of vaccines that protect people from infectious disease. Studies have also linked recent increases in Parkinson’s disease to exposure to toxic chemicals, including PFAS.

Despite the harm caused by PFAS, Republican state lawmakers from Georgia and Wisconsin have proposed to shield manufacturers, retailers, and waste handlers from lawsuits stemming from their role in contaminating the environment and us with PFAS by granting them legal immunity. Cleaning up PFAS pollution from water is an expensive process, leading to disputes over who should pay. With legal immunity, there will be less incentive for industrial PFAS users to limit releases into the environment, which could increase exposures and push the cost of PFAS pollution clean ups onto consumers and taxpayers.

With the current administration scrapping or weakening existing standards and enforcement, polluters may not be required to clean up at all. PFAS manufacturers and retailers should not get to wash their hands of responsibility for contaminating water, the environment, and irreversibly harming the health of Americans.

If the Make America Healthy Again initiative is to be successful in reversing rising chronic disease trends, Americans will need clean air, water, and food that is free from toxic chemicals. The current administration’s focus on having EPA serve the needs of polluters rather than people’s health will do the opposite.

About the author

Jessica Trowbridge, PhD, MPH is an Associate Research Scientist for the Science, Policy & Engagement team at PRHE. Through her research, she aims to fill critical evidence gaps, and to improve policies and education to reduce toxic exposures to vulnerable populations. She studied Environmental Health Sciences at UC Berkeley.