PFOA

June 28, 2025

“PFAS are everywhere” – Fears growing about PFAS in pesticides

By Meg Wilcox

Vicki Blazer has studied the health of the smallmouth bass in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for more than 20 years. As a research fishery biologist for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), she keeps a close eye on pollutants and other environmental factors that could be causing diseases and die-offs plaguing the popular sportfish.

Increasingly, her findings – and her fears – are focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and how pesticides containing types of PFAS chemicals appear to be accumulating in the fish.

June 20, 2025

Maryland residents search for answers as community struggles to overcome PFAS contamination

By Shannon Kelleher

Rick Wawrzeniak is tired of worrying about “forever chemicals.”

Aerial_view_of_Kalamazoo_Vegetable_Parchment_Company_(c.1920)

May 10, 2025

Even long after close of polluting paper mill, study finds area residents with high levels of toxins in their blood

By Carey Gillam

Residents of a Michigan community whose drinking water was polluted with toxic chemicals from a long-shuttered paper mill continue to have high levels of the compounds in their bodies, even years after the community switched to alternate water supplies, according to a new study.

April 3, 2025

Amid EPA upheaval, states fear losing strong federal limits on PFAS in drinking water

By Shannon Kelleher

With the looming possibility that the Trump administration could reduce federal limits on toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water, public health advocates are warning that people across the country would suffer.

January 14, 2025

PFAS in sludge spread on farmland poses health risks, EPA report says

By Shannon Kelleher and Carey Gillam

US regulators on Tuesday added to growing concerns about the long-standing practice of using sewage sludge to fertilize farmland, releasing a report warning that chemicals contaminating the sludge pose heightened human health risks for cancer and other illnesses.

September 17, 2024

Debate grows over whether some PFAS chemicals have a place in clean energy

By Shannon Kelleher

As the planet warms at an alarming rate, culminating in the hottest summer on record, nations worldwide are rapidly scaling up so-called clean energy technologies that can replace the world’s dependence on climate change-inducing fossil fuels.

July 26, 2024

EPA has failed to protect consumers from PFAS-laced containers, lawsuit alleges

By Shannon Kelleher

US regulators have failed to protect the public from millions of plastic containers that contain toxic PFAS chemicals, which can leach into pesticides, condiments, household cleaners, and many other products, alleges a lawsuit filed this week by environmental groups

July 8, 2024

Electric vehicle batteries adding to toxic PFAS pollution, study finds

By Shannon Kelleher

A type of toxic PFAS in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other electronics is polluting air, soil and water in the United States and Europe, adding to concerns that the growing clean energy sector could harm the environment even as it strives to combat climate change, according to a new study.

April 19, 2024

EPA moves to make polluters foot the bill for PFAS cleanup

By Shannon Kelleher

US regulators on Friday finalized a rule designating two widespread PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances, a step they say will ensure polluters pay to clean up contamination and reduce Americans’ exposure to the toxic chemicals.

April 12, 2024

Firefighting foam company reaches $750 million PFAS settlement

By Shannon Kelleher

The company Tyco Fire Products today reached a $750 million settlement to help resolve claims related to its firefighting foam, which allegedly contaminated drinking water systems with harmful PFAS chemicals for decades.