The American Chemistry Council is lying to us about the impact PFAS has on our health
By Pat Elder
May 8, 2023
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Chemistry in America Better Policy & Regulation The Science Behind Sustainability
Reports on PFAS and Freshwater Fish Are Misleading
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The American Chemistry Council wants us to believe that per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) don’t harm us. Their clients are making a lot of money and they want to keep it that way, human health be damned. The American Chemistry Council (ACC) understands that fish are the number one pathway to human ingestion for these chemicals so they’re attacking the science on the fish.
Go figure.
The ACC poses a dangerous distraction from the public health crisis posed by these chemicals. Their 320-word press release from earlier this year discussed below never specifically challenges the science in the reports. They know the fish are poisoned by their chemicals.
The ACC promotes the financial interests of the American chemical industry. The ACC champions chemical deregulation and they have a lot of money to influence Congress. They’re the enemies of your thyroid and your liver and kidneys, breasts, and testicles.
Many are suffering and dying around the world from chemical contamination while American chemical manufacturers assume no responsibility and continue to produce their toxins.
The science from a hundred sources is very clear. The reports on PFAS in freshwater fish accurately portray the massive concentrations of one compound: PFOS.
Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not eat fish containing PFOS, while almost all fish contain the carcinogens. Fish are a principal pathway of human ingestion for these chemicals. The toxins pass through the placenta and contaminate breast milk. The PFOS causes a host of developmental problems in the unborn. It is ghastly.
Judging from their corporate logo above, the American Chemistry Council wants us to believe they’re for “better” policy. They want us to believe they support the “science behind sustainability.”
The American Chemistry Council is all about the money. Truth and human health be damned. They print lies that cover up immeasurable suffering and death among millions. The world they envision features chemical anarchism, a state we’re rapidly approaching.
I’ll respond to their 320-word press release in bold. Read it like you were a member of Congress, hoping to attract financial support from the ACC and a host of corporate sources.
ACC - Recent news reports following the publication of Barbo et. al are continuing the alarming trend of taking a specific example of PFAS levels detected in the environment and expanding it exponentially into an unscientific, overly broad indictment of hundreds of chemistries that benefit our lives every day.
Rather than referring to the influential study as “Barbo et. al” the ACC should cite the name of the article, “Locally caught freshwater fish across the United States are likely a significant source of exposure to PFOS and other perfluorinated compounds.” They should also mention that the piece was published in the respected journal, Environmental Research and by the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine Pub Med.
What does it mean to “exponentially expand PFAS levels into an unscientific indictment”? Can the ACC cite examples from studies? This is garbage.
ACC - This inaccurate picture about what threat, if any, is posed due to PFAS exposure does a disservice to the public by creating unnecessary alarm, increasing economic challenges to small businesses, and threatening to divert attention, funding, and resources from more pressing priorities.
Chemical industry propaganda from the ACC
They write, “What threat, if any, is posed due to PFAS exposure..”
Seriously? California considers PFOS and PFOA to be human carcinogens!
The EPA is on the sidelines, so the chemical industry can be expected to continue selling its deadly PFAS products in about half the states indefinitely. Change is coming quickly in the other half of the states, however. Although the EPA is expected to play tough with a half-dozen PFAS chemicals in drinking water, this is a very, very small piece of the overall PFAS puzzle. It’s up to the states to regulate PFAS.
ACC - It’s important for news outlets to make it clear that all PFAS chemistries are not the same. Individual chemistries have their own unique health and environmental profiles. In fact, renewable energy, electronics, health care, transportation and air travel all rely on a particular category of fluorinated chemistries (fluoropolymers) that are of low concern to health and the environment but offer tremendous benefits.
Sure, all PFAS chemistries are not the same. They all impact the environment and our health differently.
Fluoropolymers are a danger to human health! Teflon is a fluoropolymer. It’s not the end of the world if we’re forced to use frying pans without the stuff. Humanity must figure out how to live without fluoropolymers.
ACC - The public should be aware that PFOS and PFOA, two types of PFAS, were voluntarily phased out of production and use by leading manufacturers in the chemical industry. Furthermore, there is disagreement on the health effects of these chemistries by the regulatory community, including disagreement between the EPA and the World Health Organization. It is also notable that levels of PFOS found in humans have dropped by more than 85 percent since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
PFOS and PFOA were phased out but they’re with us pretty much forever, so, all of the poisons you’ve made – while knowing they are deadly - are still poisoning us.
Chemical companies have created toxic substitutes for PFOS and PFOA, so they were OK with letting them go, “voluntarily”.
"Sero nimirum sapere caepit"
(finding out too late)
From Pandora’s box flew sorrow, disease, vice, violence, greed, madness, and death to plague humanity forever. Out of it boils a cloud which carries up a man and a dragon; between them they hold a scroll reading, "Sero nimirum sapere caepit."
ACC - Today’s PFAS chemistries have been subject to rigorous review by regulators before being introduced into commerce, and federal and state agencies continue ongoing review of products utilizing these chemistries.
What are you talking about? Regulators don’t have a clue! There are 10,000 PFAS compounds that we know little or nothing about!
ACC - Industry is dedicated to the responsible production, use, and management of PFAS chemistries in a manner that protects the public health and our environment. The manufacturers of PFAS chemistries are employing practices and technologies to minimize environmental emissions, and they continue to research and innovate waste management practices, which would allow potential end-of-life issues to be managed.
So, none of it is going down the drain to contaminate surface waters and wastewater treatment plants? What’s the plan for producing PFAS while protecting public health and the environment? How does this work, exactly?
Financial support from the Downs Law Group makes this work possible.
The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals with a high likelihood of exposure to PFAS and other contaminants.
Interested in joining a multi-base class action law suit pertaining to illnesses stemming from various kinds of environmental contamination? Join the Veterans & Civilians Clean Water Alliance Facebook group.
(2.4 K members and growing rapidly.)