Toxic threat from 'forever chemicals' sparks resistance in Georgia towns
Instead, it may be poisoning them.
Tests show their spring water is laced with toxic "forever chemicals" at levels tens of thousands of times above federal safety guidelines, likely from nearby carpet factories.
"It scares us," said Sasha, a 38-year-old dispatcher whose husband drives long hauls across the country. She's worried about their five children, two-year-old granddaughter, and a grandson due in October.
PFAS -- or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances -- are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains.
Developed in the 1940s, they're still used in nonstick pans, firefighting foams and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers.
Their ultra-tough carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment, linger in bodies for years, and are now found in the blood of nearly every living creature on Earth.
– 'Carpet capital of world' –
Here in Dalton, Georgia, which calls itself the "Carpet Capital of the World," mills run by giants Mohawk Industries and Shaw Industries are widely blamed for making the region one of America's most PFAS-laden.
They're accused of spewing the chemicals into the air, flushing them into sewers unequipped to remove them, and indirectly contaminating farmland through sludge byproducts later spread as fertilizer.
The Cordles have joined other landowners in suing the carpet makers, seeking damages to "remediate" their properties -- a process they estimate could cost about $1 million per acre -- plus punitive damages.
Mohawk, Shaw, and chemical giant 3M declined to comment on the complaint. Chemical maker Chemours, another chemical maker and defendant, says it has no factories in Georgia and denies culpability.
In a complex web of lawsuits, Dalton Utilities, which manages the local water system, has also sued the carpet makers, while Mohawk has sued 3M over the same issue.
The Biden administration last year enacted the first enforceable national drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals.
But under President Donald Trump, the federal government has since rolled back limits on four of the chemicals and delayed the compliance deadline for the remaining two.
Test cases
Meanwhile, the Cordles have seen alarming signs, in both humans and animals.
Sasha, who moved to the property after marrying Jamie in 2020, soon developed two autoimmune conditions, as well as high blood pressure and chronic fatigue.
"Sometimes getting out of bed, I feel like I'm 80," she said.
Her grown children also report various ailments -- and some goat kids didn't survive their birth defects.
Attorney Ben Finley is leading a wave of damages claims, recruiting new clients at buoyant town halls.
So far, his firm has filed suits for 18 lead plaintiffs.
"We're drawing a direct line between contamination, lost property value and cleanup cost," Finley said.
– Entering the food web –
While the lawyers work the crowds, water expert Bob Bowcock takes water, soil and dust samples to help build the scientific case behind the legal one.
"We've got springs emitting into ponds that are discharging to creeks at over 180,000 parts per trillion," he said. The national guideline for drinking water is just four parts per trillion, and local creeks are often seen frothing with pollution.
PFAS in the soil move up the protein chain and into the food web -- contaminating eggs, milk, beef, and leafy greens that find themselves on store shelves nationwide.
The carpet makers are the area's main economic lifeline, yet many are now turning against them.
Mary Janet Clark, 62, toiled for the carpet makers, had her ovaries removed after cancer, and now has a tumor in her brain.
"We helped them build their business and make all that money," said her son, David Wray, 40. "It's just cruel."
– Lost dreams –
Others share similar grief.
Human-resources manager Teresa Ensley, 57, lost her brother, father and husband to cancer in just a few years.
Studies have linked PFAS to elevated colon cancer rates, the disease that killed her brother and husband. She and her 81-year-old mother both suffer severe thyroid problems and have had hysterectomies.
Even for those not yet sick, the toll is palpable.
Greg and Sharon Eads hoped to retire on farmland they bought in 2019, but it has since tested hot for PFAS, unraveling their dream.
They own $50,000 worth of cattle now off-limits for milk or meat.
It's become "basically a petting zoo," said Greg. "I can't do anything with them, not in good conscience."
During a recent visit, the couple led AFP through bucolic pastures where the herd huddled around a healthy newborn calf -- a welcome moment of hope after several others were lost to deformities.
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France 24
3 days ago
- France 24
Toxic threat from 'forever chemicals' sparks resistance in Georgia towns
Instead, it may be poisoning them. Tests show their spring water is laced with toxic "forever chemicals" at levels tens of thousands of times above federal safety guidelines, likely from nearby carpet factories. "It scares us," said Sasha, a 38-year-old dispatcher whose husband drives long hauls across the country. She's worried about their five children, two-year-old granddaughter, and a grandson due in October. PFAS -- or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances -- are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains. Developed in the 1940s, they're still used in nonstick pans, firefighting foams and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers. Their ultra-tough carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment, linger in bodies for years, and are now found in the blood of nearly every living creature on Earth. – 'Carpet capital of world' – Here in Dalton, Georgia, which calls itself the "Carpet Capital of the World," mills run by giants Mohawk Industries and Shaw Industries are widely blamed for making the region one of America's most PFAS-laden. They're accused of spewing the chemicals into the air, flushing them into sewers unequipped to remove them, and indirectly contaminating farmland through sludge byproducts later spread as fertilizer. The Cordles have joined other landowners in suing the carpet makers, seeking damages to "remediate" their properties -- a process they estimate could cost about $1 million per acre -- plus punitive damages. Mohawk, Shaw, and chemical giant 3M declined to comment on the complaint. Chemical maker Chemours, another chemical maker and defendant, says it has no factories in Georgia and denies culpability. In a complex web of lawsuits, Dalton Utilities, which manages the local water system, has also sued the carpet makers, while Mohawk has sued 3M over the same issue. The Biden administration last year enacted the first enforceable national drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals. But under President Donald Trump, the federal government has since rolled back limits on four of the chemicals and delayed the compliance deadline for the remaining two. Test cases Meanwhile, the Cordles have seen alarming signs, in both humans and animals. Sasha, who moved to the property after marrying Jamie in 2020, soon developed two autoimmune conditions, as well as high blood pressure and chronic fatigue. "Sometimes getting out of bed, I feel like I'm 80," she said. Her grown children also report various ailments -- and some goat kids didn't survive their birth defects. Attorney Ben Finley is leading a wave of damages claims, recruiting new clients at buoyant town halls. So far, his firm has filed suits for 18 lead plaintiffs. "We're drawing a direct line between contamination, lost property value and cleanup cost," Finley said. – Entering the food web – While the lawyers work the crowds, water expert Bob Bowcock takes water, soil and dust samples to help build the scientific case behind the legal one. "We've got springs emitting into ponds that are discharging to creeks at over 180,000 parts per trillion," he said. The national guideline for drinking water is just four parts per trillion, and local creeks are often seen frothing with pollution. PFAS in the soil move up the protein chain and into the food web -- contaminating eggs, milk, beef, and leafy greens that find themselves on store shelves nationwide. The carpet makers are the area's main economic lifeline, yet many are now turning against them. Mary Janet Clark, 62, toiled for the carpet makers, had her ovaries removed after cancer, and now has a tumor in her brain. "We helped them build their business and make all that money," said her son, David Wray, 40. "It's just cruel." – Lost dreams – Others share similar grief. Human-resources manager Teresa Ensley, 57, lost her brother, father and husband to cancer in just a few years. Studies have linked PFAS to elevated colon cancer rates, the disease that killed her brother and husband. She and her 81-year-old mother both suffer severe thyroid problems and have had hysterectomies. Even for those not yet sick, the toll is palpable. Greg and Sharon Eads hoped to retire on farmland they bought in 2019, but it has since tested hot for PFAS, unraveling their dream. They own $50,000 worth of cattle now off-limits for milk or meat. It's become "basically a petting zoo," said Greg. "I can't do anything with them, not in good conscience." During a recent visit, the couple led AFP through bucolic pastures where the herd huddled around a healthy newborn calf -- a welcome moment of hope after several others were lost to deformities.
LeMonde
3 days ago
- LeMonde
Fish, offal, cereal and eggs are also contaminated by forever chemicals
According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), food is the main route of exposure to forever chemicals for the public. Yet, unlike drinking water, there remains a significant lack of data on the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in foodstuffs. A report published on Thursday, June 19, by the advocacy group Future Generations addresses this gap. It reveals near-universal contamination throughout the food chain and found that current regulations are inadequate, allowing PFAS concentrations in food that are far too high compared to risk thresholds established by the EFSA. Other research carried out by the Austrian advocacy group Global 2000 and the Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) indicated that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The most widespread forever chemical − trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) − is not being monitored, despite strong suspicions of its reproductive toxicity and its presence in commonly consumed foods such as bread, pasta and breakfast cereal − sometimes at astonishing levels. Currently, only three substances (PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS) from the large PFAS family are subject to mandatory monitoring in food (compared to 20 in drinking water), and four (including PFNA) are subject to regulatory limits. Even then, these limits apply only to a small number of foodstuffs that do not cover the entire diet: meat, fish, shellfish, mollusks and eggs. For fruit, vegetables, cereal or dairy products, there are no regulatory limits. More surprisingly, the advocacy group noted, "there are also no regulatory limits concerning food for infants and young children, who are particularly vulnerable."
Euronews
13-06-2025
- Euronews
‘Forever chemicals' exposure before birth raises teenage health risks
'Forever chemicals' may be taking their toll on our health before we are even born, new research suggests. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of chemicals used in everyday products like food packaging and non-stick cookware. They're known as 'forever chemicals' because they don't degrade easily and can build up in the environment – and in our bodies. Scientists have detected PFAS in people's blood, breast milk, semen, livers, and even brains. They suspect these chemicals harm human health, with studies linking them to higher cholesterol, some cancers, and fertility problems, among other issues. The new research adds another complication to that list: high blood pressure during adolescence. The analysis followed more than 1,000 children in the US. It used maternal plasma collected shortly after they were born to identify their level of prenatal PFAS exposure, and matched it to doctors' records up until their 18th birthdays. Prenatal exposure to PFAS was linked to a higher risk of developing high blood pressure later in childhood, particularly in the teenage years, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The findings indicate that 'these forever chemicals can have long-lasting and potentially harmful effects that may only become apparent years after birth,' Zeyu Li, the study's lead author and a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in the US, said in a statement. The risk of elevated blood pressure was even higher for boys and Black children with higher PFAS levels at birth, the study found. In a surprise to researchers, a handful of forever chemicals were actually linked to lower diastolic, or bottom number, blood pressure in early childhood, though that changed when they entered their teenage years. Evidence on the health effects of PFAS has been mixed so far. While researchers believe these chemicals pose risks, it's difficult to pinpoint their exact impact because there are thousands of PFAS that could all interact in different ways, and because people's exposure changes over time. Even so, Li said the latest study underscores the need for researchers to track people's health and their PFAS levels over a long period of time, from early childhood to adolescence and beyond. Meanwhile, Mingyu Zhang, the study's senior author and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said stronger environmental protections are needed to protect people from PFAS, given they are so ubiquitous that people cannot meaningfully limit their exposure on their own. That could include phasing out forever chemicals from consumer products and in industrial settings, he said, as well as better surveillance and limits on PFAS in water systems. 'This is not something individuals can solve on their own,' Zhang said. The Trump administration is facing backlash from climate scientists who say the US government is bungling basic facts about the impact of industrial emissions on air quality. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new proposal this week that would roll back restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants for power plants that rely on fossil fuels. The agency claimed in the proposal that heat-trapping carbon gas emissions "from fossil fuel-fired power plants do not contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution". But 19 scientists – experts in climate, health, and economics – told the Associated Press the agency's statement was scientifically incorrect. Many of them called it disinformation. Here's what five of them said. "This is the scientific equivalent to saying that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer," said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the tech firm Stripe and the temperature monitoring group Berkeley Earth, adding that the administration's conclusion was "utterly nonsensical". "It's basic chemistry that burning coal and natural gas releases carbon dioxide, and it's basic physics that CO2 warms the planet. We've known these simple facts since the mid-19th century," said Philip Mote, an Oregon State climate scientist. Dr Howard Frumkin, former director of the US' National Center for Environmental Health and a retired public health professor at the University of Washington, said "coal-and gas-fired power plants contribute significantly to climate change," which "increases the risk of heat waves, catastrophic storms, infectious diseases, and many other health threats". 'These are indisputable facts,' he added. "Their statement is in direct conflict with evidence that has been presented by thousands of scientists from almost 200 countries for decades," University of Arizona climate scientist Kathy Jacobs said. Stanford climate scientist Chris Field, who coordinated an international report linking climate change to increasingly deadly extreme weather, summed it up this way: "It is hard to imagine a decision dumber than putting the short-term interests of oil and gas companies ahead of the long-term interests of our children and grandchildren".
