Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Long Island

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of thousands of man-made chemicals with many carbon and fluorine (C-F) bonds. PFAS are extremely resistant to most surfactant activity and degradation processes which makes them desirable for industrial and manufacturing products.

PFAS are ubiquitously present all around us, from household products like non-stick cookware and utensils, food packaging, polishes, cleaning agents, creams, stain-resistant and waterproof clothes, textiles, carpets, upholstery, and paper to industrial products like firefighting foams, pesticide formulations, ski wax, lubricating oils, and even drugs and medical devices (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Recovery or ATSDR, 2020; European Environment Agency or EEA, 2019; Toxic-Free Future or TFF, 2018).

The same attributes that make PFAS desirable for use in industrial and commercial products render them toxic and difficult to remove from the environment and from the human body. Their inability to break down and their capacity to bioaccumulate has earned PFAS the label of “forever chemicals.”

The use and subsequent degradation over the lifetime of industrial and household products that contain PFAS leads to the release of PFAS into the environment which keep on recirculating through the environment. Humans are exposed to PFAS are through ingestion of contaminated drinking water and seafood, inhalation of contaminated indoor air, and contact with contaminated products (USEPA, 2019; TFF, 2018).

Epidemiological studies have shown a potential link between PFAS exposure and thyroid disease, high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and others (EEA, 2019; TFF, 2018). The impacts on unborn infants include delayed mammary gland development, reduced response to vaccines, and lower birth weight (EEA, 2019).

In 2019, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published  a map of PFAS contaminated sites across the U.S.  which included numerous sites in New York State (NYS). The focus of our project is on the presence of PFAS in Long Island, which included water districts in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. The choice of this case study was prompted by the fact that the groundwater data was public and by lawsuits filed in November of 2019 against 3M Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., and Chemours Co. for the alleged manufacturing, marketing, and selling of PFAS, despite environmental repercussions of these forever chemicals (see  here  and  here ).

To have a better understanding on what might be causing the presence of PFAS in the groundwater, we identified some of the potential sources where PFAS are (or were) used. These sources might include fire stations, airports, and military sites. A side-by-side map of PFAS detection and possible PFAS sources are presented in the following map.

It is evident that PFAS are gaining political inertia at both the federal and state levels. A few examples of some noteworthy legal actions taken regarding PFAS contamination at the state and federal levels are presented in Table 1.