WASHINGTON — Sen. Gary Peters has introduced a new bill that would broaden the U.S. government’s knowledge of PFAS and help grapple with contamination issues.
While PFAS is known to be found in food, air, soil and water — and that it is linked to severe health problems such as cancer, developmental issues and more — experts still know little about the full range of PFAS’s level of toxicity and its undetermined impacts on human health and the environment, Peters’s office says.
“There is some research underway now but it’s not being done in a coordinated fashion … which I see as a problem,” says Senator Peters. “We know that they’re toxic … we know that there are health impacts … but we need to get more information about how we clean up these substances.”
We’re told increased understanding would lead to more effective treatment and cleanup endeavors.
A representative of Peters says the bipartisan legislation, dubbed the Federal PFAS Research Evaluation Act, would require federal PFAS experts to research how best to inform federal and state administrations on best mitigation practices in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
“That’ll get us information quicker," Peters adds, "but more importantly it’s also going to be more comprehensive. We have to make sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, and that hasn’t necessarily happened in the past.”
Peters has been involved in legislative efforts to eliminate PFAS from airports and firefighting foams. We're told taxpayer money could be put toward treating PFAS on government property.
