A bolt of lightning fell in a clear sky in Washington. Preceding the publication of the national regulation on potability of water, scheduled for the fall of this year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced what the new limits will be for perfluoro alkyl substances, i.e. the now infamous (and ubiquitous) Pfas. The health warning, of transient value, drastically reduces the acceptable concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acids (Pfoa) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acids (Pfos) which will go from the current 70 parts per trillion for both to 0.004 and 0.02 parts per trillion, respectively.
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The coup d’état of the agency – which by acting in this way hopes to avoid going through the opinion of the commission of independent experts – sends a clear signal to the US chemical sector. In recent years, too many indications have emerged on the dangerousness, even at very low doses, of these substances to think of leaving the previous regulation dating back to 2016 unchanged. The same precautionary principle was adopted to introduce a first guillotine also for the main substances that gradually they are replacing them in industry. The concentration of GenX and perfluoro butane sulfonate (Pfbs), both derived from the same Pfas, cannot exceed 10 and 2000 parts per trillion, respectively.
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In the same document, the EPA announces that the government will subsidize the administrations and water services companies with a first tranche of one billion in order to adapt the aqueducts to the new standards. A non-trivial operation since current technological standards struggle to detect such low concentrations. The race has therefore started: at the exact moment in which the new regulation comes into force, all infringements will be sanctioned.
What are the Pfas
Having risen to the forefront of the news due to the widespread environmental contamination that has poisoned the aquifers of western Veneto for at least forty years, perfluoroalkyl substances are a class of chemical compounds used in the industrial field for their ability to make products impermeable to water and grease. Used since the 1950s in the supply chain of numerous commercial products, such as carpets, leathers, but also in the coating of food containers, the best known use is probably in the non-stick coating of kitchen pots and in the production of technical fabrics.
Eternal contaminants
Pfas consist of a completely fluorinated hydrophobic alkyl chain which can be of various lengths. This chemical structure provides the molecules with high thermal and chemical stability, making them resistant to the majority of natural degradation processes. Not surprisingly, in the United States, they are nicknamed “forever chemicals”, that is, eternal contaminants. Pfas accumulate in the environment and, through water and food, also in living organisms, including man.
What the Pfas do
As this is a relatively recent form of pollution, the effects on our health – which can occur even after many years of exposure – are not yet fully understood. Pfoa and Pfos, that is the most common compounds, are considered risk factors for a wide range of pathologies, not yet fully defined. They sure act like endocrine disruptors, that is, capable of altering the synthesis of hormones, compromising growth and reducing fertility. But Pfas are also suspected of interfering with intercellular communication, thus increasing the risk of develop tumors. Among the diseases whose cause could be attributed to prolonged exposure to these substances, there are tumors of the kidneys and testicles, but also thyroid disease, hypertension in pregnancy and ulcerative colitis. Some research also suggests an increase in fetal and gestational pathologies in the areas most exposed to contamination: gestational diabetes, underweight infants and other congenital malformations.
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Pfoa and Pfos belong to the first generation of long-chain Pfas, whose manufacture, marketing and use has already been strictly regulated – the object limit is 25 micrograms per kilo – recently in the European Union. As for drinking water, the new EU Directive of 2020 has partially filled the regulatory gap that reigned on Pfas at European level. Directive 2020/2184 sets the new ones at 500 ng / l as the total concentration of the class, and at 100 ng / l for the compounds of greatest concern. In Italy, the Veneto region adopted even stricter limits in 2017: 90 ng / liter for the sum of Pfos and Pfos – in which Pfos must not exceed 30 ng / l – while the total of the class must not exceed 300 ng / l. Little is known about more modern compounds, characterized by a short chain: they are described, by some experts, as less dangerous than their predecessors. However, so far, studies can be counted on the fingertips.