Biden administration imposes limits on drinking water chemicals

The Biden administration on Wednesday implemented rules it said would require public water systems to limit the presence of five types of “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

What chemicals are these? The five affected per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA, according to the statement by the Environmental Protection Agency. Those five are also referred to as GenX Chemicals, according to the EPA.

Why the name forever chemicals? The EPA says that PFAS take a long time to break down, and they persist in their environments. The advocacy organization Clean Water Action says the chemicals can last for thousands of years.

Why is the administration seeking to limit these? The EPA asserts that persistent exposure to the chemicals has been demonstrably linked to some cancers—specifically of the liver and heart. “The science is clear,” the EPA statement reads.

But an indisputable link between forever chemicals and cancers isn’t universally acknowledged. “PFAS has been generically classified as a possible, but not an official, carcinogen,” according to an August 2023 report by the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. In a December 2023 report, the organization Cancer Research UK said that the International Agency for Research on Cancer had classified one PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, as a carcinogen. The organization said it based that determination on strong evidence that it could cause changes in the human body that can lead to cancer. Additionally, researchers said they found sufficient evidence that the chemical led to cancer in a species of lab animal.

Dig deeper: Listen to Chelsea Boes’ commentary on The World and Everything in It podcast about poems that take the teeth out of cancer.