US finalizes rules for 'forever chemicals' in drinking water | Hacker News Reader

US finalizes rules for 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

theverge.com

31 pointsgoplayoutside10 comments

3 days ago/418 comments: "U.S. imposes first-ever national drinking water limits on PFAS" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39988718

Also, the core SCOTUS case that allows EPA to make this sort of rule, Chevron vs. NRDC, is going to be overturned in June, which means that we can all expect PFAS back in our drinking water real soon. https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-likely-to-d...

What is the basis for your assertion on how the court is going to rule?

I have eyes, ears, and a brain. Share your email address and we’ll chat on or before June 30 to see whether or not I was right.

[dupe]

Lots more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39988718

Are these chemicals cumulative? Like do they stay inside your body forever, or is the name just referring to their stable chemical bond?

forever for the most part. unless you donate blood. frequently.

must be seeing how crazy aggressive north american drivers are

but the lead in gasoline is far more of a factor.

I am pretty sure leaded gasoline for use in cars was banned a while ago, at least in the United States. Now to be fair there are definitely people who still deal with the lingering effects, is that what you’re referring to?

They do bioaccumulate, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean "forever" for any substance. Even lead is slowly released over time (half life in blood is about a month). The problem is that if the stuff is ever-present in the environment, the body can accumulate it faster than it releases.

I think the ship is starting to around as far as the quantity in the environment. I’ve read that chemists figured out a way to use to lye and a compound called dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO is FDA approved as a medicine, and apparently cheap to produce) to breakdown PFAS in a self sustaining reaction — that combined with new EPA concentration limits in drinking water, it could mean a significant reduction of the PFAS in circulation.

That is if water treatment plants actually go through the process of breaking down the PFAS they filter out of water instead of just dumping it somewhere and patting themselves on the back.

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