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$1 million grant will fund PFAS research in West Michigan

Wikipedia

A $1 Million dollar grant has been awarded for West Michigan to study the long term health affects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS. U.S. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan Tuesday announced the  grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to conduct how PFAS is affecting West Michigan resident’s health. According to a news release, researchers hope to use the money to help gain a better understanding of how PFAS and its relationship to certain illnesses the chemical can cause; cause, like liver and kidney cancer, while, the goal is to promote awareness of the health risks PFAS poses to communities in Michigan and throughout the nation.

Peters recently told WGVU, that pressure needs to be placed on the companies that use what scientists call “the forever chemical,” because once ingested, it reportedly never leaves the body.

“We have got to move past PFAS as a chemical that’s being put in everyday products, and that has to happen very quickly.”

According to the Environmental Working Group, or the EWG, recent data shows that Michigan leads the nation in the number of confirmed PFAS contaminated water supplies in the nation. PFAS contamination has hit a number of communities in West Michigan, most notably Rockford and Belmont, with hundreds of private wells confirmed to be contaminated with PFAS chemicals. 

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