I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately about PFOA in drinking water, or perfluorooctanoic acid, an ingredient in Teflon. Apparently, DuPont used this toxic ingredient, and it has ended up in the water supplies of a number of cities. Most of my calls are coming from Montclair, NJ.
This is an interesting article about how a local farmer discovered the toxicity of this chemical and DuPont’s disposal methods when his cattle started dying:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html?_r=0
DuPont sold off a subsidiary that manufactures the Teflon and just lost a jury trial to a woman who suffered kidney damage:
PFOA in drinking water:
There are two chemicals involved in this situation, those being perfluoro octane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Apparently PFOS is a substitute for PFOA, but I could have that wrong.
EPA classifies these two chemicals as ‘emerging contaminants’ and you can find a discussion of them here, including suggestions on how to remove them from your drinking water:
In short, EPA appears to be saying that either carbon filters or reverse osmosis will remove these.
Update:
It now appears that the presence of PFOA and PFOS is much more widespread than previously thought. I spotted this article today (June 4),
