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Are there 'forever chemicals' in your drinking water? · Silver FM 100.6

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Speaker 2: You're listening to Life Kid from NPR. Hey, it's Mary El.
0:30
Speaker 2: I want you to look around your home. Do you
0:32
Speaker 2: have a nonstick frying pan, a rain coat, dental floss
0:36
Speaker 2: designed to slide easily between your teeth. All of these
0:40
Speaker 2: items have something in common. They often contain man made
0:43
Speaker 2: chemicals called pee fasts that stands for per and polyfloral
0:48
Speaker 2: alcal substances.
0:49
Speaker 3: They're in a lot of stuff that we as humans
0:52
Speaker 3: really like, like nonstick pans that are really great for
0:55
Speaker 3: frying eggs or raincoats that keep you really dry. But
0:59
Speaker 3: the same qualities that make them useful also make them
1:02
Speaker 3: really difficult to break down, so they can stick around
1:05
Speaker 3: for a long time in our bodies and the environment.
1:08
Speaker 2: New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Mara Hoplomasion has spent years
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Speaker 2: reporting on pfas, which are also known as forever chemicals.
1:15
Speaker 3: One reason for that nickname is that they're super strong,
1:18
Speaker 3: in part because one of the things that unites this
1:21
Speaker 3: whole group of chemicals is that they have a bond
1:23
Speaker 3: between a fluorine atom and a carbon atom, which is
1:27
Speaker 3: the strongest single bond in organic chemistry.
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Speaker 2: Pfasts are everywhere. They build up in our bodies, and
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Speaker 2: even tiny amounts are linked to serious health problems like cancer,
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Speaker 2: thyroid disease, high cholesterol, preoclampsia, ul sort of colitis, and more.
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Speaker 2: And a major source of exposure for a lot of
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Speaker 2: people is drinking water. Government estimates show that these chemicals
1:49
Speaker 2: are coming out of the taps in nearly half of
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Speaker 2: homes in America. Mara is the host of a podcast
1:57
Speaker 2: called Safe to Drink. It follows the story of one
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Speaker 2: town that finds out its water has been contaminated. And
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Speaker 2: on this episode of Life Kit, we're going to talk
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Speaker 2: about how to live in a world where these toxins
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Speaker 2: are everywhere.
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Speaker 3: We'll go over how to.
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Speaker 2: Find out if pfasts are in your drinking water, what
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Speaker 2: kinds of water filters can tackle them, and what other
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Speaker 2: changes you can make to limit your exposure. All right, Mara,
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Speaker 2: thanks for being here.
2:32
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
2:34
Speaker 2: Let's lay out the basics. Do we know what these
2:37
Speaker 2: chemicals are actually doing inside of our bodies, how they
2:41
Speaker 2: cause all this harm.
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Speaker 3: There's evidence that PFAZ chemicals could be disrupting the signals
2:46
Speaker 3: our bodies send through hormones. They could change the way
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Speaker 3: our genes express themselves. They could suppress our immune systems.
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Speaker 3: They can interfere with cellular biology and cause uncontrolled growth,
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Speaker 3: which is cancer. And the most well studied of these
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Speaker 3: chemicals are PFOA and PFOS and they're sometimes called legacy
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Speaker 3: p fast chemicals. They're sort of like the originals. Pfoas
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Speaker 3: classified as a Group one carcinogen, meaning it is carcinogenic
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Speaker 3: to humans. That's along with like other Group one carcinogens,
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Speaker 3: which are you know, tobacco, asbestos, arsenic, but also things
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Speaker 3: like processed meat and alcohol. And PFOS is classified as
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Speaker 3: possibly carcinogenic.
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Speaker 2: Where have scientists found pfasts?
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Speaker 3: Estimates from the CDC show that pretty much all of
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Speaker 3: us have pfasts in our blood, and they're pretty much
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Speaker 3: everywhere in the world. Scientists have looked. You know, they're
3:43
Speaker 3: found in polar bears and seals in East Greenland. They
3:46
Speaker 3: were found in penguins and Antarctica. So it's really hard
3:50
Speaker 3: to get away from these things. And when it comes
3:53
Speaker 3: to tapwater in the US, the US Geological Service tried
3:55
Speaker 3: to get a handle on this with a study that
3:57
Speaker 3: came out a few years ago. They tested for more
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Speaker 3: than thirty different p fast chemicals of the roughly fifteen
4:04
Speaker 3: thousand that exist, and they found at least forty five
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Speaker 3: percent of the nation's tap water has one or more
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Speaker 3: of thirty plus p fast chemicals in it.
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Speaker 2: Are pfast legally allowed in drinking water As of.
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Speaker 3: Two years ago twenty twenty four, there are federal regulations
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Speaker 3: for how much of a few p fast chemicals are
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Speaker 3: allowed in drinking water, and that means public water systems
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Speaker 3: all across the US will need to start testing four
4:30
Speaker 3: p fast chemicals and treating their water to remove them.
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Speaker 3: But the deadline for water systems to do that work
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Speaker 3: is unclear, and we don't know yet which forever chemicals
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Speaker 3: water systems will be required to test for and remove.
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Speaker 3: That's because the Trump administration is pushing for some changes
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Speaker 3: to what the EPA had planned under Biden, essentially proposing
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Speaker 3: to keep rules for just two of the legacy p
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Speaker 3: fast chemicals that aren't really being used anymore, PFOA and PFOS,
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Speaker 3: and rescind the rules or a handful of other p
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Speaker 3: fast chemicals. The EPA did regulate in twenty twenty four,
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Speaker 3: and in terms of the regulations themselves, the federal regulations
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Speaker 3: for PFOA and pfos are four parts per trillion, but
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Speaker 3: the EPA has said if the levels were set solely
5:15
Speaker 3: based on health, they would be at zero parts per trillion,
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Speaker 3: so essentially saying, you know, there's not a safe level
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Speaker 3: of these chemicals to be drinking.
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Speaker 2: So I wonder if you want to know does the
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Speaker 2: tap water in my area have pfas in it? What
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Speaker 2: would be your first step?
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Speaker 3: Many states have already done testing, so a good first
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Speaker 3: step is to see what your current state regulations are
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Speaker 3: and whether your state has public testing data online, and
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Speaker 3: usually that can be found through your state's Department of
5:43
Speaker 3: Environmental Services or your health department. If you're on public
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Speaker 3: water and you can't find that information through your state,
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Speaker 3: you could call your water utilities customer service line to
5:53
Speaker 3: see if they have tested the water, and if they haven't,
5:56
Speaker 3: you know, keep checking because the deadline for water utilities
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Speaker 3: to test under the current EPA regulations is twenty twenty seven.
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Speaker 3: That's coming up, and so testing results should be coming
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Speaker 3: in if you're on a private well, which you know,
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Speaker 3: like half of folks in my state are. Many states
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Speaker 3: have programs to help you figure out how to test
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Speaker 3: your own water. I know in New Hampshire there's also
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Speaker 3: some financial assistance for that. And there are a few
6:19
Speaker 3: maps online where you can sort of see testing that's
6:21
Speaker 3: already been done throughout the country. One of them is
6:24
Speaker 3: from the US Geological Survey and others from this advocacy
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Speaker 3: organization called the Environmental Working Group, and you can just
6:29
Speaker 3: sort of put in your location and see what water
6:33
Speaker 3: around you has been tested.
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Speaker 2: Take Away one you want to know if your tap
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Speaker 2: water contains PFAS a good starting point is your state's
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Speaker 2: p FAS regulations and its public water testing data. You
6:47
Speaker 2: can find that through your state Health Department or Department
6:50
Speaker 2: of Environmental Services. You can also call your water utilities
6:54
Speaker 2: customer service line to see if they've tested the water,
6:57
Speaker 2: and there are maps online that pull together public water
7:00
Speaker 2: testing data from the US Geological Survey and from the
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Speaker 2: Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization. If you're on a
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Speaker 2: private well, many states have programs to help you test
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Speaker 2: your water, and they might also offer financial assistance. And
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Speaker 2: then once you do look that up, how do you
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Speaker 2: make sense of the reports that you find.
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Speaker 3: I think a good first step is to sort of
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Speaker 3: compare your results to the federal regulations so that you
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Speaker 3: know four parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, and
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Speaker 3: then any state regulations you might have. I looked into
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Speaker 3: this and conquered New Hampshire where I live. My apartment
7:37
Speaker 3: is on public water, so I checked to see if
7:40
Speaker 3: my water utility had tested the water, and they did
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Speaker 3: test in twenty twenty three, and they published those results online.
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Speaker 3: One of the water sources that mixes into my water
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Speaker 3: tested slightly above the federal level, but the other sources
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Speaker 3: had levels lower than the federal limit, and everything was
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Speaker 3: below New Hampshire's state limits. So I felt like that
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Speaker 3: was enough for me to feel my water was pretty safe.
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Speaker 2: But then again, like you said, the EPA has said
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Speaker 2: that no level of PFAST is safe to be drinking.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And in part the reason for the difference between
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Speaker 3: that zero parts per trillion for the health guideline and
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Speaker 3: the four parts pertrillion for the enforceable guideline is because
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Speaker 3: we can't really test down that low. I mean, these
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Speaker 3: are tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny amounts of these chemicals, and
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Speaker 3: you know it's a chemical that's not good for us,
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Speaker 3: even in tiny, tiny, tiny amounts. But the EPA basically
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Speaker 3: says we can't ask people to test and treat water
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Speaker 3: lower than four parts pertrillion. It wouldn't be feasible with
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Speaker 3: the technology we have and the cost it would require.
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Speaker 2: We'll have more life kit after the break when it
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Speaker 2: comes to drinking water. How can we limit our exposure
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Speaker 2: or filter some of this out?
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Speaker 3: If you do find test results that show there's p
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Speaker 3: FASS in your water, or even if you feel like
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Speaker 3: you just want to do it anyways, you can figure
9:14
Speaker 3: out if your water system has started treating for it.
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Speaker 3: So there's certain kinds of filters that are effective for
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Speaker 3: removing pfas, and your water system might already be using those,
9:23
Speaker 3: they might be in the process of installing them, so
9:25
Speaker 3: check to see if they are doing that. If you
9:27
Speaker 3: find out your water has p FAST in it and
9:29
Speaker 3: your water system isn't treating it. You might want to
9:32
Speaker 3: get a treatment system in your own home. It's important
9:34
Speaker 3: to do some research about that. Not all water filters
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Speaker 3: are the same and some aren't as effective for pfas.
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Speaker 3: There's three kinds of water filters that are generally effective.
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Speaker 3: One is granular activated carbon, one is ion exchange resin,
9:49
Speaker 3: and then there's reverse osmosis. Those three things are generally
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Speaker 3: sort of effective for treating pfas, and you'll also want
9:57
Speaker 3: to look for a filter that is certified. You can
9:59
Speaker 3: check out the National Sanitation Foundation website to see if
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Speaker 3: a particular filter you're interested in treats the kind of
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Speaker 3: p fas that you're trying to target, And generally you'll
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Speaker 3: want to look for the letters NSF ANSI fifty three
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Speaker 3: or NSFA NSI fifty eight.
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Speaker 2: What about if you're drinking bottle of water, I mean
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Speaker 2: some people will do that instead to try to avoid
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Speaker 2: any contaminants that might be in the tap.
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Speaker 3: For bottled water, I think it really depends on what
10:27
Speaker 3: your levels are that you're trying to avoid. So if
10:29
Speaker 3: you've really high levels in your tap water or in
10:33
Speaker 3: your private well, bottled water might have lower levels than that,
10:36
Speaker 3: and could be a better option. In a twenty twenty
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Speaker 3: five statement from the US Food and Drug Administration, they
10:44
Speaker 3: shared results from testing of bottled water that they collected
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Speaker 3: from stores across the US between twenty twenty three and
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty four. Ten of the one hundred and ninety
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Speaker 3: seven samples that they took had detectable levels of pfas,
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Speaker 3: but the FDA said one of those levels would have
11:00
Speaker 3: exceeded the federal levels, the maximum contaminant levels that the
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Speaker 3: EPA set. So that's some data about you know what
11:08
Speaker 3: pfas look like in bottled water, but figuring out if
11:12
Speaker 3: your bottled water company that you're using is testing their
11:14
Speaker 3: water for p fas, is it probably a good step
11:16
Speaker 3: to take if you want to use that as a
11:18
Speaker 3: as an alternative.
11:22
Speaker 2: Take away too. To limit your exposure to p fas
11:25
Speaker 2: and drinking water, get a water filtration system. There are
11:28
Speaker 2: three kinds that are generally effective in filtering out pfas,
11:32
Speaker 2: granular activated carbon ion exchange resin, and reverse osmosis. Look
11:38
Speaker 2: for a filter that's certified by the National Sanitation Foundation
11:42
Speaker 2: and confirm that the certificate is genuine by searching for
11:45
Speaker 2: the company's name on the NSF website. Also, p fas
11:49
Speaker 2: can be present in bottled water, so if you drink it,
11:52
Speaker 2: find out if the company is testing its water for
11:54
Speaker 2: these chemicals. Beyond drinking water, what are some other ways
12:02
Speaker 2: you can reduce your exposure to be fast.
12:05
Speaker 3: One thing that I've done is sort of take an
12:06
Speaker 3: inventory of the stuff in my life, so the stuff
12:10
Speaker 3: I'm cooking with and wearing and putting on my body,
12:13
Speaker 3: like makeup, and also the food packaging that food comes in.
12:18
Speaker 3: So in twenty twenty four, the FDA announced these grease
12:22
Speaker 3: proofing substances that contained p fast chemicals that have been
12:25
Speaker 3: used in things like microwave popcorn bags and fast food
12:28
Speaker 3: wrappers were no longer being sold, but they said those
12:31
Speaker 3: products might still be in use until the stock runs out.
12:33
Speaker 3: So that's something I pay attention to. Something like a
12:37
Speaker 3: beauty product or floss, sometimes they say p fast free
12:40
Speaker 3: on the label, but you really want to see if
12:43
Speaker 3: it's been third party tested, So you can look for
12:46
Speaker 3: certifications like green Seal or EPA's Safer Choice Program for clothing.
12:51
Speaker 3: You can look for the OCOTECHS one hundred certification, and
12:57
Speaker 3: you sort of really want to make sure that those
12:59
Speaker 3: companies that are brand something as pfest free have actually
13:01
Speaker 3: tested to make sure it is pfast free. But when
13:04
Speaker 3: I did this sort of like inventory of all of
13:05
Speaker 3: my stuff, I decided to get rid of my nonstick pan.
13:09
Speaker 3: I really started like building a relationship with my old
13:11
Speaker 3: cast iron. I f lost every day, so I made
13:14
Speaker 3: a point to get p fast free floss. But you know,
13:16
Speaker 3: I have this older raincoat that works really well. I
13:19
Speaker 3: only wear it once or twice a year. It's not
13:21
Speaker 3: p fast free, but I haven't gotten rid of it
13:23
Speaker 3: because I felt like the risk trade off felt worthwhile
13:26
Speaker 3: to me in that situation. Yeah, one scientist I spoke with,
13:29
Speaker 3: Megan Romano at Dartmouth, was sort of talking about how
13:32
Speaker 3: she wears waterproof mascara like twice a year, but for
13:35
Speaker 3: people who wear it every day, you know, that could
13:37
Speaker 3: be a place to think about making a change to
13:39
Speaker 3: reduce your exposure.
13:41
Speaker 4: What I usually recommend to people is that you think
13:44
Speaker 4: about the products that have the longest, most prolonged contact
13:47
Speaker 4: with your skin, and if you want to start to
13:49
Speaker 4: make changes, that's the best place to start. So to
13:53
Speaker 4: look for moisturizers or foundations or bronzers, things that you're
13:58
Speaker 4: going to put on your face or your body, leave
14:00
Speaker 4: there all day your deodorant. Those are the places to
14:04
Speaker 4: think about, could I be choosing something that had you know,
14:08
Speaker 4: fewer endercondisrupting chemicals?
14:10
Speaker 2: For example, in it, is there any way to get
14:14
Speaker 2: p fas out of your body if you've already been
14:18
Speaker 2: consuming them as most of us have.
14:20
Speaker 3: Your p fast levels in your blood will decrease over
14:23
Speaker 3: time if you stop ingesting them, and US health officials
14:27
Speaker 3: have said the best approach for reducing your blood levels
14:30
Speaker 3: is to prevent exposure in all the ways we've been
14:33
Speaker 3: talking about. There is ongoing research about methods for reducing
14:37
Speaker 3: blood levels for people who have really high exposure, but
14:41
Speaker 3: in the US the Centers for Disease Control have said
14:44
Speaker 3: there's no currently approved medical treatment for reducing pfas in
14:48
Speaker 3: the body. There is some guidance for doctors on how
14:53
Speaker 3: they might treat patients with higher levels of p fast exposure,
14:56
Speaker 3: like they might prioritize certain kinds of screenings for particular cancers.
15:00
Speaker 3: They might test thyroid function, so if a person thinks
15:04
Speaker 3: they could have a high exposure to p fast, they
15:07
Speaker 3: could discuss it with their doctor. And in some places
15:10
Speaker 3: like New Hampshire insurance companies are actually required to cover
15:13
Speaker 3: the cost of blood testing for p fast chemicals, so
15:16
Speaker 3: that's something you could explore if you're interested in figuring
15:19
Speaker 3: out how much of this stuff is actually in your body.
15:23
Speaker 2: Take Away three, You can limit your exposure to p
15:26
Speaker 2: fat in other ways. To consider personal care products and
15:29
Speaker 2: cleaning products in particular. Some will be labeled p fast
15:33
Speaker 2: free and back that up with certifications like Green Seal
15:36
Speaker 2: or EPA Safer Choice Program, and for clothing you can
15:40
Speaker 2: look for the Ocotex one hundred certification. Big picture, I
15:47
Speaker 2: think a lot of folks wonder how worried should I
15:49
Speaker 2: be about this? Given that these are everywhere. It can
15:52
Speaker 2: feel like a losing battle. I think about this a
15:55
Speaker 2: lot as someone who got cancer when I was thirty four.
15:59
Speaker 2: There's just a few years ago. The doctors didn't find
16:02
Speaker 2: an obvious cause, like oh, you have a genetic mutation,
16:04
Speaker 2: so they said, hey, it's likely some kind of environmental
16:07
Speaker 2: exposure that we just can't pin down. So now I
16:11
Speaker 2: feel like I have to do everything to protect myself
16:15
Speaker 2: from every possible carcinogen in the environment, which just isn't
16:19
Speaker 2: possible and can drive you a little a little up
16:21
Speaker 2: the wall.
16:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, that sounds so frustrating as an answer to get
16:25
Speaker 3: from doctors about you know, we don't fully understand why
16:28
Speaker 3: this has happening. I'm so sorry that happened to you.
16:31
Speaker 2: Thanks, But I think about it. And I did get
16:34
Speaker 2: a water filter for my house for under my sink,
16:38
Speaker 2: and I also got water filters from my bathroom. I
16:41
Speaker 2: don't know for sure that they're making a huge difference
16:43
Speaker 2: or that they would prevent me from getting cancer in
16:47
Speaker 2: the future, but I just feel like I'm doing the
16:50
Speaker 2: best I can.
16:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I feel like having information about what we're
16:55
Speaker 3: potentially exposed to in the environment, like pfast, chemicals and
16:58
Speaker 3: other things allows us to sort of like make those
17:01
Speaker 3: calculations for ourselves. And with risk, it's you know, it's
17:05
Speaker 3: like I was saying with my raincoat, like we each
17:06
Speaker 3: have our own tolerance for risk. And you know, I
17:10
Speaker 3: always drive the speed limit. My sister loves to be
17:13
Speaker 3: like zooming past people in the left lane, and I
17:16
Speaker 3: try to think about my exposure to p fast like that,
17:19
Speaker 3: you know, like what risk feels tolerable, what feels intolerable,
17:22
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, you know, how
17:24
Speaker 3: much of my own money can I spend protecting myself
17:27
Speaker 3: from something that's so widespread. But like as I said,
17:31
Speaker 3: you know, in order to make those calculations, we have
17:33
Speaker 3: to have good, reliable information, and that's where those federal
17:37
Speaker 3: and state regulations come in. Those enforceable limits and the
17:41
Speaker 3: testing efforts that come with them are really important as
17:44
Speaker 3: we try to make these decisions.
17:46
Speaker 2: Yep, well, Mara, thank you so much for this, Thank
17:50
Speaker 2: you so much. Yeah, okay, recap time. Take Away one.
17:56
Speaker 2: You want to know if your tap water has p
17:58
Speaker 2: FAST in it. A good start point is your state's
18:01
Speaker 2: p FASS regulations and its public water testing data. You
18:04
Speaker 2: can also call your water utilities customer service line to
18:07
Speaker 2: see if they've tested the water, and there are maps
18:10
Speaker 2: online that you can look at. If you're on a
18:12
Speaker 2: private well, many states have programs to help you test
18:15
Speaker 2: your water, and they might offer financial assistance. Take Away two.
18:19
Speaker 2: To limit your exposure to p FAST and drinking water,
18:22
Speaker 2: get a water filtration system. There are three kinds that
18:25
Speaker 2: are generally effective in filtering out pfas, granular activated carbon
18:30
Speaker 2: ion exchange resin, and reverse osmosis. Look for a filter
18:34
Speaker 2: that's certified by the National Sanitation Foundation NSF and p
18:39
Speaker 2: fas can be present in bottled water too, so if
18:41
Speaker 2: you drink it, find out if the company is testing
18:44
Speaker 2: its water for these chemicals. Take Away three. You can
18:47
Speaker 2: limit your exposure to p fas in other ways too,
18:50
Speaker 2: consider personal care products and cleaning products and clothing looking
18:54
Speaker 2: for certifications like Green Seal, EPA's Safer Choice Program or
18:59
Speaker 2: OCO Text one hundred. All right, that's our show. You
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Speaker 2: This episode of Life Kit was produced by Margaret Serino.
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Speaker 2: Our digital editor is Malica grieb and our visuals editor
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Speaker 2: is c. J. Rikalon. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor,
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Speaker 2: and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team
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Speaker 2: also includes Andy Tagle, Claire Maurie Schneider, and Sylvia Douglas.
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Speaker 2: Engineering support comes from Niche Highness fact checking by Tyler Jones.
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Speaker 2: I'm Mariel Sagara. Thanks for listening.