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Scientific research generated by civil settlements could help drive future EPA regulation.
“All people need access to clean and safe drinking water.”
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official said those words, promising that the agency under the Biden Administration would act to address a looming public health concern in the U.S. water supply—PFAS.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of human-made chemicals. Thanks to a highly stable fluoride-carbon bond, PFAS tend to accumulate in the environment rather than break down. PFAS are not only found in drinking water but also in food and even the air. They are probably in your blood, too.
This is a problem according to an increasing number of studies that warn that some types of PFAS can cause severe disease, including cancer.
EPA started to investigate PFAS in the early 2000s. Yet the agency has just begun to develop a comprehensive regulatory scheme. In a decades-spanning effort to address PFAS in drinking water and consumer products in the absence of EPA action, individuals and environmental activists turned to another regulator: the courts. The resulting litigation may herald a new era for the enforcement of chemical safety standards.
PFAS are not the first chemicals to spawn years of litigation. A variety of chemicals have led to “toxic torts,” a common, though complex, type of civil lawsuit. Yet PFAS litigation is novel because it did not follow on the heels of...
Read Full Story: https://www.theregreview.org/2021/07/28/rothermich-can-personal-injury-plaintiffs-regulate-dangerous-chemicals/
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