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By Casey Shea Marketing Director |
November 21, 2024
The federal government just released an alarming new report on the nation's drinking water that should jolt all of us into immediate action. The key finding: 95 million Americans may be drinking water contaminated with PFAS.
This study was the first national estimate of PFAS in drinking water and found that contamination could be 37,000 times higher than what the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable.
How did we get here and how has big money in politics contributed to the problem? Let’s dive into the contaminated deep end.
What are PFAS and why are they so dangerous?
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of chemicals used in many industrial and consumer products because of their resistance to water, grease, and stains. There are more than 15,000 different PFAS and you’ll find them in products you might encounter every day–nonstick cookware, bottled water, waterproof mascaras, food packaging, stain-resistant carpets, waterproof jackets, to name a few.
Known as “forever chemicals”, these substances don’t break down easily and can build up in the environment and your body. The Department of Health and Human Services have determined that nearly all Americans have some levels of PFAS in their blood and that there is no level of exposure that’s safe for humans.
The list of health effects are long and numerous:
- Increased cholesterol levels
- Impaired immune system response
- Kidney dysfunction
- Hormonal disruptions
- Liver damage
- Increased risk of certain cancers like kidney and testicular cancer
- Developmental effects in fetuses and infants
It’s been estimated that the annual worldwide societal cost of PFAS (cleaning up the pollution, dealing with the health effects in populations) is a staggering $17.5 trillion.
Corporations and their armies of lobbyists have made regulation of these chemicals difficult
The dangers of PFAS have been known since the 1970s, but thanks to PFAS companies and related industry groups suppressing this information, it’s only recently that the public has been made aware of the harmful effects.
Despite the dangers and the public outcry, our broken political system has allowed these corporations to pour millions of dollars into lobbying efforts and campaign contributions to influence legislation, hinder regulations, and sway our elected officials.
A quick history of lobbying efforts against PFAS regulation
► From 2019 to 2022, PFAS companies and their related industry groups spent more than $110 million on lobbying efforts to kill or weaken legislation aimed at curbing PFAS.
► Of the 130 bills that Congress introduced to clean up or mitigate PFAS during this time period, only four became law and none of them assigned any of the financial burden of cleanup or mitigation to the companies themselves.
“What’s incredibly ironic is that it’s the people paying through their water bills to pay for a water utility trade association that’s hiring fancy lawyers to sue to make their water less safe.”
– Erik Olson, Senior Strategic Director for Health at NRDC
► The PFAS Action Act of 2019 (and also of 2021) was a major piece of legislation that would have addressed PFAS pollution, but eight PFAS companies hired 28 lobbyists to fight the bill. A version of the bill did eventually pass in the House but died in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works where two-thirds of its members received over $450,000 in campaign donations from PFAS companies.
Despite these setbacks, there’s been positive momentum: in April 2024, the EPA implemented the first ever national limits on PFAS in drinking water. These limits don’t cover all PFAS and won’t completely fix the issue, but it’s the first step of progress in a long time.
But predictably, lobbying groups representing manufacturers of PFAS have already filed court challenges against these new limits.
How do we curb the influence of money and lobbyists in our political system?
There are many scientific, technical, and logistical challenges to eliminating PFAS in our drinking water, but one thing is absolutely clear: our corrupt political system makes it infinitely more difficult.
But there are concrete pieces of legislation we can fight for to limit the influence of special interest group money in our politics:
- Banning lobbyist donations to elected officials
- Banning campaign spending by foreign-influenced corporations
- Banning legislators from trading individual stocks
- Ending the “revolving door” between serving in office and working as a lobbyist
- Requiring disclosures on sources of major donations
- Strengthening penalties for attempting to buy political influence
- Placing caps on campaign spending
We don’t have to wait for Congress to do any of this (because they won’t); instead, we can pass these laws at the city and state level to build national momentum. As the nation’s largest nonpartisan anti-corruption organization, that’s exactly what we do and it’s been a successful strategy.
If you’re interested in getting money out of politics, sign up with us and find out how you can get involved.