Focus at Four: Expert on the effects of PFAS in drinking water
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The Biden Administration is setting new regulations on the amount of “forever chemicals” that can be found in drinking water.
This new standard will require water utilities to filter out five PFAS chemicals. Those chemicals are currently found in half of the drinking water in the U.S.
Yina Liu, a professor of Oceanography at Texas A&M, joined First News at Four on Friday to discuss PFAS and what exactly these chemicals are.
Liu says that PFAS are a group of what some databases show are 19,000 different compounds that are difficult to destroy.
“They’re found in surface water and even open ocean water. The reason for this is because they are widely used in many products, consumer products such as firefighting, foam, non-stick cookware, our day-to-day life cosmetic products as well as some pharmaceuticals,” she said.
PFAS are found in the blood of nearly 97 percent of Americans, and have been linked to a number of health issues, including cancer, so Liu says the regulations are positive.
“At this point for the level that we found being regulated in the new rule, this is definitely a good direction to start to help with mitigating negative impact,” she said.
These chemicals were found very commonly in studies Liu has been a part of.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that everything that we tested [in research] contains some kind of PFAS in them, including fish that we typically eat or wildlife,” she said.
Liu ultimately said not to lose sleep over the issue.
“Many scientists are actively working on treatments and destructive mechanisms for PFAS. I would say it’s definitely a concern, but I also trust our scientists in different disciplines that can help to solve this problem,” she said.
