The EWG reported that small doses of PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they accumulate in the human body and will not be decomposed in the environment, and have a weakened immune system response to kidney cancer, liver cancer, and pancreatic cancer, and other serious problems. Related to health issues. “There is no federal drinking water standard to test these PFAS chemicals,” Andrews said.

Earlier this month, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced a strategy to regulate PFAS chemicals, but it has not yet implemented it. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US government agency responsible for setting and enforcing chemical exposure standards, did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s calls or emails requesting comments. More than 25,000 people in Flint, Michigan have been harmed by exposure to lead and other toxins in drinking water.

“This shows that we do not have strong enough regulations to protect drinking water, and the regulatory process is too slow,” she said. “Afterwards, we were testing the substances that were already in drinking water… but we were not keeping up with these chemicals.” The list includes some substances that have been produced and used for many years, but they have not been monitored by regulatory agencies until now because their links to health problems have become clear. Other pollutants include pollutants that industry has just begun to use in large quantities. Many substances are identified as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s unregulated pollutant monitoring rules (UMCR), which is the first step in the regulatory process. It tracks the presence of chemicals in certain water systems, and its purpose is to provide EPA with a picture of the prevalence of chemical pollution before new restrictions are established.

Other substances detected include HAA-9, which is a by-product of the drinking water disinfection process. Regulators previously set restrictions on HAA-5, which is a pollutant in the same family and was found to cause health problems. The industry claims that HAA-9 is safe, but recent studies have linked it to a low birth rate, so the EPA started tracking it. However, setting restrictions can be a long process. In the 20 years since the rule was implemented, EPA has not been able to set new restrictions under UMCR. The agency discovered the “eye-opening” levels of PFAS compounds described by Stoiber in 2013, but its goal is to set only two types of water restrictions by next year. The other pollutants in the new list were detected by states, which are adopting stricter chemical regulations, such as PFAS. At the same time, people have little choice but to educate themselves about the pollutants in their water systems, buy filters, and advocate for stricter regulations.

With information from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/03/us-tap-water-contaminants-discovery-radioactive-material-pesticides