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Group wants the MDEQ to set new safety standard for PFAS

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters along with State Representative Winnie Brinks on Wednesday called on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to set a new enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS.  

The chemicals, widely used in things like ScotchGuard and firefighting foam, continue to turn up in drinking water supplies throughout the state of Michigan. If enough of the chemical is consumed, it can lead to a laundry list of health concerns, including liver and kidney cancer.

The Environmental Protection Agency has placed the safety benchmark of drinking water containing PFAS at 70 parts per trillion. However, the EPA and the Trump administration tried to suppress a study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry which concluded that safe drinking levels were seven to ten times lower than what the EPA had recommended. One Trump Administration aide said in an email that the study’s findings would be a “public relations nightmare.”

“People’s lives have been put a risk, by squashed reports by the Trump Administration," Lisa Wozniak, the executive director of Michigan League of Conservation of Voters said. "I’m scared and I’m also very angry because the citizens of Michigan deserve much better.”

Representative Brinks says she shares that frustration, after legislation she drafted to lower drinking water standards gained little traction in Lansing.

“You know, I really feel like there is a lack of leadership at the very top levels," Brinks said. "When we see the executive office allowing us not to have a really definitive and safe standard here that really leads to questions about the leadership of those departments and what they are being directed to do.”

The MDEQ is currently testing drinking water in more than 450 schools and is still using the 70-parts-per-trillion safety standard. At the time of this report, calls to the DEQ were not returned.

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