The EPA on Wednesday released four drinking water health advisories for so-called forever chemicals based on studies that indicate negative health effects may occur with concentrations that are near-zero and below the agency’s ability to detect.
As part of a series of actions to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, contamination, the agency issued an interim health advisory for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) to replace advisories issued in 2016.
While the previous advisory level was 70 parts per trillion for either compound or a combination of PFOA and PFOS, the new advisories are 0.004 and 0.02 parts per trillion, respectively, below detection levels that the agency determines can be reliably measured in water using approved testing methods in a laboratory setting. The EPA also released health advisories for two other chemicals, including a chemical originally introduced as a replacement for PFOA.
