As concerns of contaminated drinking water continues to grow, a number of Michigan advocacy groups traveled to Washington D.C. to demand the federal government take action.
It’s been over a year since Per-and-Poly fluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS were discovered in the drinking water supply for a number of Rockford and Belmont homes. Since then, there have been dozens of sites across the state of Michigan that have tested positive for the toxic chemicals, many well above the safety threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
On Wednesday, the United States Senate hosted its first ever hearing on PFAS, asking the EPA, along with the Defense Department, and the National Institutes of Health, what role the Federal Government should play in the crisis.
Joining them in Washington D.C. were a number of advocacy groups from Michigan, some made up of members who have been personally affected by PFAS. Cody Angell is the co-founder of Michigan Demands Action Against Contamination. He spoke from Washington D.C. before the hearing.
“So we are here today, asking the Federal Government to finally step in and set a maximum contaminant level that represents public health,” Angell said. “These chemicals, while we do use them and they are a big asset to our society, we need to put people’s health over profit.”
While the Federal Government has yet to set a national safety standard for PFAS, the EPA has set the safety threshold of PFAS in drinking water at 70-parts-per-trillion. Meanwhile, advocates want the Federal Government to follow the recommendations of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which placed a “minimal risk level” ten times lower than the EPA’s at just 7-parts-per-trillion.
