PFAS: Poly and Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances

Your Health & Trumps Plans

When evaluating the safety of chemicals, scientists determine if and how they may be hazardous for humans, animals and the environment. They seek to identify critical health effects, the amount of the substance that is likely to trigger an effect, and then where possible establish a safe level. However, like most chemicals, the real adverse health effects are found after the contamination occurs.

Once Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances PFAS enter the environment, they are very challenging to remove. These chemicals are now found everywhere contaminating our drinking water and food source across the world.

For the UK, PFAS hotspots are increasing, untreated drinking water have breached the maximum guidance levels 278 times. The Environmental Agency has identified 10,000 high-risk contaminated sites. It reported a number of the alleged main pollution hotspots as:

(1) the Angus Fire-Fighting Foam Plant and Training Centre, North Yorkshire; (2) AGC Chemicals manufacturing plant site, Lancashire; (3) Former RAF Base, Duxford, Cambridgeshire; (4) Fire Service College, Cotswolds; (5) RAF Bases, nationwide; (6) Heathrow Airport, Middlesex; (7) Sewage Treatment plants, nationwide; and (8) Stowey Quarry Landfill, Somerset. The cost to clean up PFAS pollution for the UK and Europe is expected to exceed £1.6tn over 20 years. The Data is freely available ‘PFAS’ .

A stretch of the River Thames in Teddington between 2019-2022 was eleven times above safe levels set out by the EU, which was the sixth greatest concentration of PFAS in the UK. The Royal Society of Chemistry campaign, for cleaner water and its emphasis on forever chemicals, as been gaining traction by the media , with Channel 4’s Andrew Misra

who interviewed the residents of Bentham. These families purchased their forever home only to find themselves pursuing legal action. Due to the forever chemical contamination they are face with. You may find this surprising. Despite the alarming environmental and health risks posed by forever chemicals, there is currently no legal limit on the amount of PFAS present in our drinking water. However, this may soon change. A Liberal Democrat from Twickenham, Munira Wilson who is the spokesperson for Education, Children and Families on the 5th November 2024 introduced a Private Members Bill under the Ten minute Rule.

‘Poly and Perfluorinated Alkyl Substance s (Guidance)’. The Bill requires the Chief Inspector of Drinking Water to issue guidance to water companies on poly and perfluorinated alkyl substances in drinking water; and for connected purposes. The Bill as only reached 2nd stage in Parliament. In the Lords, the Green party's Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, also aims to protect the public from Pfas. The Baroness reminded the House

of Lords of the fret women face when using feminine products. In her amendment to Lord Leong " Product Regulation and Metrology Bill". This Bill was introduced on the 12th March 2025 with an aim to update product safety law by keeping pace with technological advances while maintaining high product standards. This bill as started its 3rd Reading in the House of Lords.

To the USA, more than half of the U.S. population are drinking PFAS-contaminated water. Trumps first administration significantly weakened the safety standards of chemical plants which included food and beverage manufacturers and agricultural supply distributors, which were tightened under the Obama administration after a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in Texas that killed 15 people. At the time, trump argued that there was “little data that the safety regulations had any benefits”.

2020, the Biden administration, restored the measures rolled back by the Trump administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris believed that every person and community should have access to safe products, clean drinking water and a healthy environment, free of toxicants and pollutants that harm public health and well-being. Their goals were to protect communities from PFAS pollution and reduce Americans’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals as part of its mission to end cancer as we know it. With a strategy of accumulating high-quality data to inform federal government decisions to reduce and prevent PFAS contamination and its health impacts; communicating PFAS research effectively to impacted communities; identifying technologies that can help remediate PFAS pollution; and generating actionable information, including about PFAS alternatives that federal agencies, manufacturers, and consumers can rely on to make informed decisions.

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA is charged with reviewing the thousands of chemicals already in commerce to make sure they don’t harm people or the environment, supporting Pillar One of the Administrator’s initiative, clean air, land and water for every American.

The Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters has been tracking incidents involving hazardous chemicals since January 2021, sourced from media reports. This data is updated on a weekly basis. This year alone 36 incidents has occurred as of 2nd March 2025. An estimated 1,026 pounds of sulfur-dioxide was released from a Chevron refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi on February 21, 2025. Yet once again, Trump aligns with the chemical industry, pushing back on the regulation, that protect the American people.

“Chemicals are a vital part of our country’s economy. Our manufacturing and industrial sectors should have safe access to the chemicals necessary to advance and improve our daily lives through the production of products including household goods, electronics and other technologies,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. March 10, 2025.

The Trump administration has asked the court to pause legal challengers to the 2024 safety rules and cut funding to the EPA

This map highlights 180 Superfund Sites that were identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as having PFAS contamination. The list was provided to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works as part of Assistant Administrator David Ross’s response to questions for the record from Ranking Member Carper during the EPW Committee’s March 2019 hearing entitled “Examining the federal response to the risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).”

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