(Photo: Panafotkas)
Over the past few months, several communities in upstate New York and New England have detected PFOA — perfluorooctanoic acid, or C8, a chemical linked to a range of health issues from cancer to thyroid disease — in their drinking water.
PFOA is a fluorinated compound that is absorbed into our bodies through inhalation or ingestion. The chemical can then accumulate in our blood serum, kidneys and liver.
The stain-resistant and water-repellant properties of PFOA make it effective in products that act as coatings. Common consumer products with PFOA include Scotchgard, Gore-Tex and Teflon.
The qualities that make PFOA effective in consumer products also lead to its persistence in the environment. The chemical has been detected in the serum of the general US population and throughout the home and workplace.
A growing number of communities near industries or military bases that used PFOA have confirmed that their drinking water has been contaminated. What does the science say about the potential health effects of PFOA exposure?
The Case Against DuPont
PFOA has been produced in the US since 1947. However, very little was known about the human health risks of the chemical until 2001. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) learned that DuPont had been hiding information about the environmental presence of PFOA near the Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. That began what would turn out to be a decade of PFOA-related research in this community.
PFOA was used by DuPont to manufacture Teflon beginning in 1951. During the process, PFOA was released into the air and discharged into the Ohio River. The chemical then entered the groundwater that supplies the local drinking water through hydrologic interaction with the contaminated Ohio River and rainfall recharge of groundwater through the contaminated soil.
Six public water districts in West Virginia and Ohio and hundreds of private wells were contaminated. Monitoring data show PFOA continued to…