PFAS soil and groundwater contamination <i>via</i> industrial airborne emission and land deposition in SW Vermont and Eastern New York State, USA

Schroeder, Timothy; Bond, David; Foley, Janet B.

doi:10.1039/d0em00427h

Cited by 46 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…The authors concluded that novel chlorinated polyether PFAS substances currently used as alternatives to legacy PFAS, require future investigation to elucidate their environmental impact in the ecosystems [98]. As already mentioned, the atmospheric dispersion of PFAS substances has profound consequences in their subsequent transport towards multiple environmental media and receptors since wet/dry deposition mechanisms can account for a significant portion of PFAS entrance into the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems [42,[99][100][101][102]. Taken together these data demonstrate that the atmospheric dispersion of PFAS is a relevant pathway through which these compounds can diffuse towards human and potentially other biotic receptors residing far distant from the source of emission.…”

Section: Pfas Occurrence In the Atmospherementioning

confidence: 98%

PFAS Molecules: A Major Concern for the Human Health and the Environment

Panieri

Baralić

Đukić-Ćosić

et al. 2022

Toxics

128

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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of over 4700 heterogeneous compounds with amphipathic properties and exceptional stability to chemical and thermal degradation. The unique properties of PFAS compounds has been exploited for almost 60 years and has largely contributed to their wide applicability over a vast range of industrial, professional and non-professional uses. However, increasing evidence indicate that these compounds represent also a serious concern for both wildlife and human health as a result of their ubiquitous distribution, their extreme persistence and their bioaccumulative potential. In light of the adverse effects that have been already documented in biota and human populations or that might occur in absence of prompt interventions, the competent authorities in matter of health and environment protection, the industries as well as scientists are cooperating to identify the most appropriate regulatory measures, substitution plans and remediation technologies to mitigate PFAS impacts. In this review, starting from PFAS chemistry, uses and environmental fate, we summarize the current knowledge on PFAS occurrence in different environmental media and their effects on living organisms, with a particular emphasis on humans. Also, we describe present and provisional legislative measures in the European Union framework strategy to regulate PFAS manufacture, import and use as well as some of the most promising treatment technologies designed to remediate PFAS contamination in different environmental compartments.

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Section: Pfas Occurrence In the Atmospherementioning

confidence: 98%

PFAS Molecules: A Major Concern for the Human Health and the Environment

Panieri

Baralić

Đukić-Ćosić

et al. 2022

Toxics

128

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“…The redistribution of PFAS compounds in the environment (air, soil, water) is dependent on the complex interaction between chemical properties and the specific conditions existing within the environmental media (47)(48)(49)(50). Partitioning processes such as electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions drive PFAS adsorption to and desorption from the organic matter in the soil and water sediments while the volatilization and the interaction with the small particulate matter influences their diffusion into air (51)(52)(53)(54). Redistribution of PFAS substances within and between the different environmental media occurs through a combination of transport processes that include atmospheric dispersion through the wind or the airborne particles and subsequent deposition through wet or dry mechanisms, but also soil run-off and leaching to surface or groundwater due to precipitation, flooding, or irrigation events (55)(56)(57)(58)(59).…”

Section: Pfas Environmental Releases Distribution and Fatementioning

confidence: 99%

Endocrine disruption by PFAS: A major concern associated with legacy and replacement substances

Panieri¹,

Buha-Đorđević²,

Saso³

2021

Arhiv za farmaciju

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Perand poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) have been used for decades in a great variety of processes and products by virtue of their exceptional properties, versatility and chemical stability. Nevertheless, it is increasingly recognized that these substances can represent a serious hazard to human health and living organisms due to their persistence, long-range transport potential and tendency to accumulate in biota. For this reason, some efforts have been made across the EU to identify alternative molecules, with a shorter carbon chain and theoretically safer profile, that might replace the previous generation of legacy PFAS. Unfortunately, this strategy has not been entirely successful and serious concerns are still posed by PFAS in different human populations. Among others, an emerging aspect is represented by the adverse effects that both legacy and alternative PFAS can exert on the human endocrine system, with respect to vulnerable target subpopulations. In this review we will briefly summarize PFAS properties, uses and environmental fate, focusing on their effects on human reproductive capacity and fertility, body weight control and obesity as well as thyroid function.

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“…Yet these plastics factories chose not to share this information with workers or local residents, and they continued emitting PFOA by the ton annually. Today, it is estimated that these three modest plastics plants contaminated about 250 square miles of soil and groundwater, including my own home and the college campus where I teach (Schroeder, Bond, and Foley 2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet local communities can help illuminate the source, transport, and fate of toxics. Taking residents' hunches seriously, we soon identified several sites where PFOA had been illegally dumped, and we amassed overwhelming evidence that the contamination of groundwater and soil was far more extensive than state models initially allowed for (Bond, Foley, and Schroeder 2018; Schroeder, Bond, and Foley 2021). This work introduced us to the primary venue of many residents’ outrage: the family home.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the universal reach of PFOA contamination, the experience of PFOA toxicity remains largely tied to communities adjacent to plastics manufacturing hubs in the United States and Europe. Whether as lighthouse or harbinger, these Rust Belt communities now bear the weight of PFOA contamination as injuries gather in that much-maligned demographic: the white working class (Bond 2021). In falling sperm counts, hormonal imbalances, and testicular cancer, PFOA further erodes the crumbling edifice of breadwinner masculinity, inflicting harms that seem to echo popular progressive critiques of the irredeemable body of white rural America.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Contamination in theory and protest

Bond

2021

American Ethnologist

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Contamination offers a new observatory for anthropological theory. But does it bring us closer to the world at hand? I have spent the past five years working with residents in Bennington, Vermont, and Hoosick Falls, New York, in pursuit of justice after the toxin PFOA was discovered in their drinking water. Turning from advocacy to writing, I've been struck by how prominent toxicity is becoming in certain currents of anthropological theory and how little those theories illuminate about the protests against contamination I participated in. As the theoretical dazzle of contamination surges forward toward experimental futures, planetary futures, and queer futures, toxicity can become an oracle whose ethnographic significance lies more in its prophetic intimation than in its present inhabitation. Staying close to the experience of a New England community protesting industrial pollution, I show how the ethnographic realities of contamination can orient theory for a better world without first resigning us to the loss of the present. [toxics, materiality, futures, environmental justice, PFAS, plastic pollution, United States]

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PFAS soil and groundwater contamination via industrial airborne emission and land deposition in SW Vermont and Eastern New York State, USA

Abstract: We document soil and groundwater contamination caused by industrial airborne PFAS emission over an area of ∼200 km2 that has impacted over 1200 wells.

Cited by 46 publications

References 50 publications

PFAS Molecules: A Major Concern for the Human Health and the Environment

PFAS Molecules: A Major Concern for the Human Health and the Environment

Endocrine disruption by PFAS: A major concern associated with legacy and replacement substances

Contamination in theory and protest

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