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Comment by elif | Hacker News Reader

I think the key here is that we can't trust regulators, though I would certainly welcome their contributions...

Perhaps what needs to happen is engineers developing a cheap rapid test where it becomes possible for consumers to become aware enough of the invisible problem that it becomes possible to advocate for a solution.

At the moment, we are left fighting ghosts, some of which may not be real. How are we to hold cities responsible for their water when it's possible they are part of the good 50% as far as we know?

What if the bottled water we buy to avoid pfas has higher concentrations than the tap? We are powerless to even hold manufacturers responsible.

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Going from this to "we can't trust regulators" is quite a jump. The EPA and other regulators are quickly tightening regulations, but how do we currently filter PFAS up the food chain?

If anything, distrust should be placed in the chemical companies as "the chemical industry knew about the dangers of PFAS and failed to let the public, regulators, and even their own employees know the risks." [0].

Tap water is safer and held to a higher standard than bottled water. The EPA requires tap water to be tested multiple times a day and the information is publicly available. Is bottled water held to a similarly high standard?

0: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2023/05/425451/makers-pfas-forever...

Would you trust someone that didn't tell you you were drinking poison from 40+ years? Because that is exactly what happened.

1970's - The EPA knew since 1970s[1], and possibly even earlier, of the evils of the stuff that was getting dumped into the open.

1983 - The EPA learned of the Oakdale Dump (supefund site) and they still took no action [2] on the chemicals itself.

2001 - It was left to hero Billot, to literally put a target on its back by whistleblowing on the whole industry after the EPA, local county regulators, had all failed to blow this issue open.

2016 - First year of advisory from EPA [3]

That's approximately 46 years for EPA to release regulatory advise on this carcinogen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_related_to_...

[2] https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1983/07/21/047...

[3] https://politi.co/2KV5zMZ

and

1981 - "Two years after DuPont learned of a famous monkey study in 1979, 3M shared the results of another study (with Dupont) it had done, this one on pregnant rats, whose unborn pups were more likely to have eye defects after they were exposed to C8. The EPA was also informed of the results." [4]

[4] https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-decepti...

Bottled water is increasingly “filtered municipal water” instead of purified or spring water.

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