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10 Things You Can Do about Toxic Forever Chemicals | Drinking Water Contamination Map
EPA Limits Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water | NFPA Technical Committee | The Inventors
By Jondi Gumz
Troy Niles joined Central Fire four years ago, with the goal to become a full-time firefighter after working in restaurants and manufacturing.
He’s 39, currently working in logistics and on call, the father of twin daughters age 2½, and the issue of safer protective clothing is not theoretical to him.
In his four years, he’s attended two funerals of fellow firefighters, both due to cancer.
At the firefighter academy, he learned “safety first.”
He puts on his gear, which weighs a hefty 85 pounds, to protect him against flames and hazardous chemicals but he doesn’t know if his gear is made with highly toxic substances known as forever chemicals or PFAS.
“I just wear what they give me,” he said.
He said, “We have allocated $240,000 to spend to replace half of our employees’ equipment with the goal of replacing the other half in the next budget year.”
Why are they called forever chemicals?
As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control explains, these chemicals don’t break down in the human body or the environment.
Notre Dame Researcher
Graham Peaslee, professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, began researching per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS after a 2005 discovery at a lake near his home. The lake was contaminated with chemicals from flame retardants.
PFAS was commonly used in firefighting foam, sprayed from helicopters to halt wildfire and during training at military bases. The chemicals seep into groundwater and then drinking water.
Peaslee used Notre Dame’s St. Andre particle accelerator to test products for PFAS and get results in minutes instead of hours.
Products coated with PFAS resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water, and Peaslee found them in fast food wrappers at 20 different chains.
They are commonly used in nonstick pans — think Teflon –raincoats and carpet– think Scotchgard, sleeping bags, popcorn bags, dental floss, cosmetics, and firefighter protective gear, which must withstand fire and water and has multiple layers including a moisture barrier.
Peaslee began testing firefighter gear after getting an email from Diane Cotter, whose healthy firefighter husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. She suspected more than smoke was the reason, and obtained new and used gear to be tested.
The results: Peaslee consistently found PFAS on the inside and outside of the gear, “startling high levels” of toxic fluorine.
Last year, producer Mark Ruffalo with Etheral Films, the Last Call Foundation and Footpath Pictures released “Burned” a documentary on Diane and Paul Cotter, Graham Peaslee, and how significant exposure to forever chemicals are affecting the fire community.
New Restrictions
On April 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the first time set a contamination limit on PFAS forever chemicals in drinking water.
The enforceable limit is 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOS.
Firefighter Paul Cotter is featured on the poster for the movie “Burned: Protecting the Protectors”
There have been clues that these chemicals are especially unhealthy.
In 2017, forever chemicals were found in drinking water in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, home of a 1,750-acre 3M factory that made chemicals for Scotchgard. The state of Minnesota sued and sought $5 billion; after eight years, 3M settled for $850 million but admitted nothing.
Internal documents later show company officials knew the chemicals were toxic, with one scientist warning of cancer risk in 1979.
Dupont, which invented Teflon, was sued by people who claimed they were affected by the toxin. In 2012, Dupont funded a science panel that found probably links between its chemical known as C8, and health problems such as cancer after testing almost 70,000 people.
In 2017, Dupont and its spinoff Chemours paid $670 million to settle a lawsuit, but did not admit wrongdoing.
When PFOS, another forever chemical was found in lakes near Greensboro, North Carolina, the source was an airport where firefighting foam with PFOS was used in training exercises.
The Hawes River was contaminated with PFAS from an upstream wastewater treatment plant where the filers were not designed to remove PFAS coming from local industries.
In 2017, a new version of PFAS called GenX was found in the 200-mile Cape Fear River, the main water source for Wilmington, North Carolina and millions more people. The source was wastewater from the upstream Chemours manufacturing plant.
In 2019, Chemours made an agreement with North Carolina to remove GenX and other PFAS contamination.
Michael Regan, who now heads the EPA, was then head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality.
A year and a half after Regan became EPA chief, EPA proposed to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous. After weighing the evidence, the EPA determined that PFOA and PFOS are likely to be carcinogenic to humans.
One priority is to prevent PFAS from entering the environment.
State Action
Washington State is leading the way. In 2018, legislators banned PFAS in firefighting foam used for training and required reporting of PFAS in firefighter protective gear. A ban on PFAS in food wrappers took effect last year and a ban on PFAS in cosmetics will take effect in 2025.
Ed Kelly, IAFF president, sits for an interview for the documentary.
AB 1817, signed in 2022 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom bans PFAS in clothing (indoor and outdoor) accessories and handbags. This takes effect in 2025.
And starting in 2025, manufacturers will be required to disclose PFAS in products in 2025.
A ban on PFAS in outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions doesn’t take effect until 2028.
PFAS are so pervasive that a study by the U.S. Geological Survey in July 2023 reported at least 45% of the nation’s tap water has PFAS of one type or another. There are more than 12,000 PFAS chemicals.
California is one of 27 state Attorney Generals from the West Coast to the East Coast who have initiated litigation against the manufacturers of PFAS for contaminating water resources, according to Safer States, a national alliance with a mission to safeguard people from toxic chemicals.
Cases have been settled in Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
Bill in Congress
In July 2023, a handful of Congressional representatives took up the issue of the “forever chemicals” PFAS in firefighter turnout gear.
Diane Cotter, Paul Cotter’s wife, who discovered her husband’s exposure to forever chemicals, talks to director Elijah Yetter-Bowman
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) along with Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Sam Graves (R-MO), Tom Kean, Jr. (R-NJ), Dina Titus (D-NV), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Protecting Firefighters and Advancing State-of-the-Art Alternatives Act (PFAS Alternatives Act), to support development of PFAS-free turnout gear for firefighters to better protect them from the dangers of their work.
The bill, if passed, would authorize $25 million annually for each fiscal year 2024 through 2028 to support research, development and testing of new materials, and $2 million annually for training to reduce harmful exposures through proper wearing and cleaning of gear.
The legislation, H.R.4769, would require a program be established within 180 days of passage to award grants to manufacturers, which would be required to consult with firefighter organizations and organizations that represent them to ensure the new turnout gear will be practical and effective.
Stated goals are to protect against particulates and byproducts of combustion, greater ease of cleaning or visible indicators to alert firefighters to hazardous exposures and need for decontamination, and to consider body composition in product design.
Recent studies have shown that all three layers of firefighter turnout gear contain Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), a class of fluorinated chemicals known as “forever chemicals.”
PFAS chemicals are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic, and are linked to reproductive harms, weakened immune systems, and cancer – the leading cause of firefighter death.
Research has found the strongest links are to kidney cancer and testicular cancer;
“Firefighters’ jobs are already dangerous enough without worrying about the long-term health risks of being exposed to dangerous PFAS in their turnout gear,” said Dingell. “The PFAS Alternatives Act will remove this unnecessary occupational hazard and help protect firefighters as they work every day to protect us.”
The bill is endorsed by the International Association of Fire Fighters, the union representing firefighters, and Globe Manufacturing Co., in New Hampshire, North America’s oldest manufacturer of firefighter turnout gear acquired in 2017 by MSA Safety, a global manufacturer that bought Bristol Uniforms, a turnout maker in the United Kingdom, in 2021.
Since the bill was introduced, it now has 75 sponsors, including Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D- Carmel Valley, who signed on as of March 24.
Panetta provided this statement, “Our firefighters in California’s 19th Congressional District put their lives on the line to protect our community.
We need to ensure they are outfitted with equipment that will not only help them get the job done, but also keep them safe from occupational hazards like PFAS exposure, which has been linked to harmful long-term health impacts.”
H.R. 4769 requires a progress report two years after passage.
No. 1 Killer
Nearly 75% of those honored at the 2022 Fallen Fire Fighter remembrance died of occupational cancer, according to the IAFF.
“Cancer is the No. 1 killer of firefighters…For too long, firefighters have been needlessly exposed to cancer every day simply by putting on the protective gear necessary to respond to emergencies in our communities,” said IAFF President Edward Kelly, who joined the Boston Fire Department in 1997 and defeated Mahlon Mitchell of Wisconsin in 2021 in a rare contested election.
Kelly succeeded Harold Schaitberger, who had held the top spot since 2001.
Kelly said, “Chemical companies, who have known for years about the cancer-causing properties of PFAS, have seen increased earnings while firefighters face repeated exposure to toxins directly linked to illness and death. The PFAS Alternatives Act can change this sad fact by putting firefighters – not corporate interests – at the center of the research for next-generation gear, guaranteeing we have a voice in developing the products we rely on for safety.”
Kelly added, “Our membership is grateful to Reps. Dingell, Graves, Kean, Bonamici, D’Esposito, Ivey, Fitzpatrick, and Titus, and we applaud their courage in sponsoring this bill.”
He told 800 union leaders, “As firefighters, we aren’t Republicans or Democrats. We aren’t red or blue. We’re firefighters through and through.”
He spoke of a widow in Lubbock Texas who lost her husband to job-related cancer.
In his opinion, the top priority is to get “next-generation toxic-PFAS-free carcinogenic bunker gear, PPE.”
Bipartisan Support
The eight legislators who introduced the bills include four Democrats and four Republicans.
Kean said, “These brave men and women risk their lives to protect us, and it is our duty to provide them with the safest possible gear.”
Bonanici said, “The PFAS Alternatives Act will speed up the development of turnout gear for firefighters that is free from dangerous PFAS chemicals and promote safer practices.”
Fitzpatrick said, “As co-chair of both the PFAS Task Force and the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, I am proud to lead this bipartisan effort to streamline the development of high-quality gear for our firefighters on the frontlines that is free of harmful ‘forever chemicals.’”
D’Esposito, a former chief of the Island Park Fire Department, said, “I am particularly glad the issue of firefighter safety is being addressed through legislative action … and I will continue to do everything in my power to safeguard my brothers and sisters in the fire service from dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ found in outdated protective gear.”
Ivey, another sponsor, is a kidney cancer survivor.
“I know the hardship, uncertainty and fear any family would experience being exposed to cancer causing materials,” he said. “This bill will save our firefighters from this exposure and is a good way to show our appreciation to the men and women who are ready to rush into danger when others dodge it.”
In January 2023, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, created a National Firefighter Registry to learn more about cancer in the fire service. The registry is at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/registry.html
Companies like 3M and DuPont, along with nearly 40 other firefighter gear makers, are facing a mounting number of lawsuits, according to DrugWatch.com, which reports on lawsuits against high-risk drugs and devices. With enough lawsuits, a federal judicial panel could consolidate them into a multidistrict litigation, such as those against Roundup, Facebook and Juul Labs.
Why is PFAS in Turnout Gear?
The International Association of Fire Fighters claims a testing standard of the National Fire Protection Association for protective gear effectively requires using PFAS.
In March 2023, the IAFF, which represents 300,000 professional firefighters and paramedics, filed a lawsuit against the NFPA with the goal to change that standard, spurred by Diane Cotter, whose firefighter husband was diagnosed with cancer.
“We can’t rely on so-called experts to tell us what is safe for us,” said Edward Kelly, president of the IAFF. “We have to do our own research. We have to make sure we have independent research to make sure we are operating as safe as possible.”
The IAFF’s lawsuit contends the NFPA is influenced by the industry that makes money off the testing standard in fire safety gear.
The NFPA issued a statement saying, the IAFF’s comments falsely portray NFPA, its standards development process, and the role the IAFF plays in that process.
The gear standard does not specify any particular material, according to NFPA, but it does require a moisture barrier test to ensure the gear is protective, and it’s the manufacturer that decides how to comply. NFPA said anyone can propose changes and the IAFF has not recommended a ban on PFAS in firefighter gear.
Travis Temarantz, president of the Wilkes-Barre Firefighters Union IAFF Local 104, proposed labeling for firefighter gear with PFAS.
The NFPA Technical Committee adopted a rule allowing companies to say their garment/gear is PFAS-free. One member, Amanda Newsom, a staff engineer for Underwriters Lab, questioned whether it was enforceable by the certification organization, and another member ,Jeffrey Stull, president of International Personnel Protection, said some test methodology should be included.
Another rule adopted: The certification organization should use its best judgment in determining the relevant categories of restricted substances to be evaluated based on the information provided by the manufacturer or supplier for the respective material(s) and component(s).
Currently there is no test to evaluate the leachability of hazardous chemicals from the textile material to the skin while sweating.
Another new rule says the garment with PFAS shall be evaluated for leaching. Newsom said the test method should be validated to understand the impact and feasibility of these materials.
•••
To order the documentary “Burned,” see https://etherealfilms.org/burned/
TOP PHOTO: Troy Niles, at Central Fire in Aptos, shows off the protective clothing firefighters wear. Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
For more on this issue, check out these articles:
10 Things You Can Do about Toxic Forever Chemicals
Drinking Water Contamination Map