Deborah Koff Ross: “PFAS chemicals affect our drinking water, our crops, the air we breathe, and the products we bring into our homes. As…”

“PFAS chemicals affect our drinking water, our crops, the air we breathe, and the products we bring into our homes. As Members know, PFAS are a large class of chemicals that are highly persistent and mobile in the environment. They are commonly referred to as forever chemicals. PFAS have contaminated more than 2,300 sites across 49 States, polluting the drinking water of an estimated 200 million Americans, including thousands of households in my home State of North Carolina and at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Forever chemicals have been associated with a wide range of serious health effects, including a probable link with cancer, thyroid disease, lower fertility, and more. Over 500 PFAS are included on the Federal inventory of chemicals that can be used in commerce, but we know very little about what these chemicals are, where they are manufactured and used, and how the American people and our troops are being exposed. Thankfully, after years of indecision, Congress took bipartisan action in the fiscal year 2020 NDAA, directing EPA to complete a PFAS reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The rule requires EPA to use its existing authority to obtain information about all PFAS manufactured since 2011, including their identity, where they are manufactured, total amounts produced, general categories of how they are used, and existing information on environmental and health effects.…”