The World Health Organization's Move to Abolish PFAS Drinking Water Guidelines and Related Issues
TapTechNews August 14th news, according to the report of The Guardian yesterday (August 13th), The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to abolish two proposed drinking water guidelines for toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) 'permanent chemicals'.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
TapTechNews note: PFAS is a type of substance consisting of about 15,000 chemicals, usually used to make waterproof, stain-resistant and heat-resistant products.
Because PFAS does not naturally decompose, it is often called a 'permanent chemical', and this substance can accumulate in the human body and is associated with cancer, kidney disease, liver disease, immune disorders, birth defects and other serious health problems.
The World Health Organization released guiding principles in 2022
The World Health Organization proposed relevant drinking water guiding principles in 2022 and set the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in parts per trillion (ppt) at 100 ppt.
This guiding principle is not binding, but it is very important for environmental protection officials in many countries around the world, and usually sets it as the legal limit.
More than 110 experts objected
More than 110 scientists and regulators objected in 2022, believing that the PFAS drinking water limit proposed by the World Health Organization is too high, and that researchers used inferior scientific means and arbitrarily rejected hundreds of studies on serious health problems of 'permanent chemicals'.
Linda Birnbaum, former head of the US National Toxicology Program and an EPA scientist, said the WHO's guidelines and reasons are 'inexcusable'.
The US Environmental Protection Agency stipulated new recommended limits for PFOA and PFOS in June 2022, at 0.004 ppt and 0.02 ppt respectively.
Researchers are accused of corruption problems
Reports said that the researchers involved in this study have corruption problems in the process of formulating data, with the purpose of relaxing the new PFAS limit in the US.
Many independent scientists alleged that the drinking water guidelines for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) proposed by the WHO are not strict enough, and the researchers have corrupt behaviors in the process of formulating data, and many researchers are related to the industry.
The World Health Organization's measures
The WHO is re-examining scientific literature, disbanded the group of scientists who previously drafted the guiding principle and formed a new team, which significantly reduced the number of scientists with industrial connections and increased the number of regulators.
Betsy Southerland, former manager of the US EPA's water department, said: 'This is the first time in the WHO's revision process, and the criticism the WHO has received is also unprecedented'.
The World Health Organization stated in a statement that it will continue to advance this project and reasonably formulate guiding principles for other perfluorooctane sulfonate compounds.
Southerland said that the US water filtration system can remove PFOA and PFOS to below 100 ppt.
The US EPA believes that at present, there is no data indicating to what extent PFOA and PFOS are safe for the human body, but the level of existing detection and removal technologies is about 4 ppt, so it set this limit at this value this year.
