{"id":4884,"date":"2024-04-24T07:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T07:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=4884"},"modified":"2024-04-24T07:28:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T07:28:05","slug":"breaking-down-new-rules-about-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=4884","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Down New Rules About \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lisa Friedman, who covers climate change, discussed the fight to regulate toxic chemicals found in nearly half of America\u2019s tap water.<\/p>\n

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Times Insider<\/a> explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.<\/p>\n

Cookware. Dental floss. Shampoo.<\/p>\n

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, can be found in those items and hundreds of other household products. Nicknamed \u201cforever chemicals\u201d because they do not fully degrade, PFAS are resistant to heat, oil, grease and water. (One of the first uses of PFAS chemicals was as a nonstick agent in Teflon cookware in the 1940s.) But exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancer, liver damage and birth defects, among other health issues.<\/p>\n

Worse, the chemicals have made their way into our showers, sinks and drinking glasses \u2014 a 2023 study detected PFAS<\/a> in nearly half of the nation\u2019s tap water. But there\u2019s some good news: For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is regulating PFAS. This month, the E.P.A. announced that it would require municipal water systems to remove six forever chemicals from tap water.<\/p>\n

Lisa Friedman, a reporter on the Climate desk at The New York Times, wrote about the new rules<\/a>. In a recent conversation, Ms. Friedman discussed the whirlwind month in climate news, what could stall the implementation of the regulations and how her beat has evolved over 15 years. This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

How significant is this moment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a really big deal. The E.P.A. has finalized rules that will require some PFAS chemicals to be reduced to near-zero levels in our drinking water. But PFAS chemicals are hard to eliminate, and doing so will involve an expensive process. It will be a pretty big headache for water utility companies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last week, President Biden\u2019s administration blocked a <\/strong>proposed industrial road in Alaska<\/a><\/strong> and announced plans to expand <\/strong>two national monuments in California<\/a><\/strong>. Is there a reason so much climate policy change is happening right now in the United States?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The regulations on PFAS in tap water were first proposed last year, but there\u2019s an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress at least 60 legislative days to overturn new rules issued by federal agencies. If Republicans take control of the Senate and Donald Trump wins the presidency, the rules could be easily overturned.<\/p>\n

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Lisa Friedman, who covers climate change, discussed the fight to regulate toxic chemicals found in nearly half of America\u2019s tap water.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Cookware. Dental floss. Shampoo.Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, can be found in those items and hundreds of other household products. Nicknamed \u201cforever chemicals\u201d because they do not fully degrade, PFAS are resistant to heat, oil, grease and water. (One of the first uses of PFAS chemicals was as a nonstick agent in Teflon cookware in the 1940s.) But exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancer, liver damage and birth defects, among other health issues.Worse, the chemicals have made their way into our showers, sinks and drinking glasses \u2014 a 2023 study detected PFAS in nearly half of the nation\u2019s tap water. But there\u2019s some good news: For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is regulating PFAS. This month, the E.P.A. announced that it would require municipal water systems to remove six forever chemicals from tap water.Lisa Friedman, a reporter on the Climate desk at The New York Times, wrote about the new rules. In a recent conversation, Ms. Friedman discussed the whirlwind month in climate news, what could stall the implementation of the regulations and how her beat has evolved over 15 years. This interview has been edited and condensed.How significant is this moment?This is a really big deal. The E.P.A. has finalized rules that will require some PFAS chemicals to be reduced to near-zero levels in our drinking water. But PFAS chemicals are hard to eliminate, and doing so will involve an expensive process. It will be a pretty big headache for water utility companies.Last week, President Biden\u2019s administration blocked a proposed industrial road in Alaska and announced plans to expand two national monuments in California. Is there a reason so much climate policy change is happening right now in the United States?The regulations on PFAS in tap water were first proposed last year, but there\u2019s an obscure law called the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress at least 60 legislative days to overturn new rules issued by federal agencies. If Republicans take control of the Senate and Donald Trump wins the presidency, the rules could be easily overturned.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4886,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4887,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions\/4887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}