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scientists evaluating new chemicals вЂњare the last line of defense between harmful - even deadly - chemicals and their introduction into U.S.

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office in charge of reviewing toxic chemicals tampered with the assessments of dozens of chemicals to make them appear safer. In recent days, whistle-blowers have alleged in The Intercept that the E.P.A. The Government Accountability Office, the watchdog arm of Congress, still identifies the Toxic Substances Control Act as a program with one of the highest risks of abuse and mismanagement. In 2016, Congress strengthened the law, bolstering the E.P.A.вЂ™s authority to order health testing, among other measures. Furthermore, the Toxic Substances Control Act grandfathered in thousands of chemicals already in commercial use, including many PFAS chemicals. The E.P.A.вЂ™s assessment was carried out under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, which authorizes the agency to review and regulate new chemicals before they are manufactured or distributed.Д«ut for years, that law had gaps that left Americans exposed to harmful chemicals, experts say. The findings underscore how, for decades, the nationвЂ™s laws governing various chemicals have allowed thousands of substances to go into commercial use with relatively little testing. Still, he said it was clear вЂњthat the approved polymer, if and when it breaks down in the environment, will break down into PFAS.вЂќ Schug, a professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington, said the chemicals identified in the FracFocus database fell into the PFAS group of compounds, although he added that there was not enough information to make a direct link between the chemicals in the database to the ones approved by the E.P.A.

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in the mid-2000s, DuPont acknowledged knowing of PFASвЂ™s dangers, and it and several other chemical manufacturers subsequently committed to phase out the use of certain kinds of the chemical by 2015. But it wasnвЂ™t until the early 2000s, when the environmental attorney Rob Bilott sued DuPont for pollution from its Teflon plant in Parkersburg, W.Va., that the dangers of PFAS started to be widely known. Industry researchers have long been aware of their toxicity. Both Congress and the Biden administration have moved to better regulate PFAS, which contaminate the drinking water of as many as 80 million Americans. The substances have come under scrutiny in recent years for their tendency to persist in the environment, and to accumulate inside the human body, as well as for their links to health problems like cancer and birth defects. The presence of PFAS in oil and gas extraction threatens to expose oil-field employees and emergency workers handling fires and spills as well as people who live near, or downstream from, drilling sites to a class of chemicals that has faced increasing scrutiny for its links to cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems.ДЄ class of man-made chemicals that are toxic even in minuscule concentrations, for decades PFAS were used to make products like nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpeting and firefighting foam.

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