{"id":75678,"date":"2020-08-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/policy-health-and-justice-focus-of-october-meeting-on-pfas-contaminants-in-drinking-water\/"},"modified":"2020-08-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T00:00:00","slug":"policy-health-and-justice-focus-of-october-meeting-on-pfas-contaminants-in-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/policy-health-and-justice-focus-of-october-meeting-on-pfas-contaminants-in-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy, health, and justice\u2014focus of October meeting on PFAS contaminants in drinking water"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kingston, RI (Aug. 31, 2020) \u2013 The 溏心vlog免费B站 (溏心vlog免费B站) STEEP Superfund Research Center is hosting a conference, \u201cPFAS In Our World: What We Know and What We Can Do<\/a>,\u201d October 13 and 14, 2020. The virtual event will focus on the expanding crisis of PFAS contaminants in our drinking water and the policy, health, and environmental justice implications. The conference will also emphasize the exchange of ideas among early-career scientists and how science can advance policies to protect communities from contamination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create an opportunity for young scientists interested in PFAS to learn how their research can have an impact, whether it\u2019s guiding environmental regulations, reducing people\u2019s exposure, or protecting communities most at risk,\u201d says STEEP trainee Heidi Pickard, a PhD student at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Pickard and fellow STEEP trainees from 溏心vlog免费B站 and Harvard are helping to organize the event.<\/p>\n

PFAS are a class of chemicals that companies add to consumer products to make them nonstick, waterproof, and stain-resistant. They are also used in firefighting foams and industrial processes. The hazardous chemicals have been detected in groundwater and drinking water across the country, affecting millions of Americans and raising health concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese chemicals are highly pervasive, they never degrade, and they can cause health effects at very low levels of exposure,\u201d says 溏心vlog免费B站 professor Rainer Lohmann, who leads the STEEP center. \u201cSo, it\u2019s imperative that we find solutions to keeping these chemicals from entering our environment and our bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian Cousins, professor of environmental organic chemistry at Stockholm University in Sweden, will deliver a keynote address on the essential and non-essential uses of PFAS\u2014grouping PFAS according to their societal benefits and needs in order to facilitate their phase-out.<\/p>\n

Other meeting highlights:<\/p>\n