The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry noted that “most people in the United States have one or more specific PFAS in their blood, especially PFOS and PFOA.”(1) PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) belong to a class of human-made chemicals known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.(2) PFAS are characterized by their carbon-fluorine bonds, which are among the strongest in chemistry, giving them the nickname “forever chemicals.” The bonds make PFAS remarkably durable but also make them highly persistent in the environment. PFAS’s chemical nature allow them to exist in thousands of chemical forms, making them versatile enough to be found in numerous products. Chemicals are usually mobile—think of carbon existing everywhere and in all living organisms—but PFAS’s mobility makes them more dangerous than most other chemicals. PFAS have been found in the blood of humans and hundreds of species because of its prevalence in the air, soil, and water.(3) There is no escaping them.

 

Along the Mississippi River in Louisiana, communities are more likely to die because of petrochemical industrial practices. This location is called Cancer Alley, a sacrifice zone created from petrochemical facilities and factories releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. When an industry places a heavy environmental burden on an area to the point where inhabitants are forced to remain behind because of the high economic cost of leaving, a sacrifice zone arises.(4) These zones are usually adjacent to heavily-polluting  industries or military bases, and people in areas near those facilities are “sacrificed” to the pollutant(s) caused by the pollution source. Sacrifice zones exist in an environmental justice context because it is often low-income and minority communities that suffer the most from chronic chemical exposure.(5) Often, those living in sacrifice zones do not know that they are being exposed to high levels of pollution.

 

In Cancer Alley, Black residents are unknowingly exposed to multiple sources of industrial air pollution, creating a cancer rate of about 47 times higher than the Environmental PPA’s acceptable levels.(6) PFAS also infest the unknowing residents’ drinking water, creating a cycle of exposure for the residents that use the Mississippi River in their daily life.(7) Without remedial action, they are sacrificed to the chemical manufacturing industry’s pollution.

 

Manufacturing facilities producing PFAS or PFAS byproducts can release those chemicals into the environment through several ways. PFAS can escape through the regular course of a manufacturing business or by accident. Through air emissions, spills, or waste disposal–among other ways–PFAS can leach into the environment and contaminate the air, drinking water, and soil near the facilities. Then those PFAS accumulate due to their “forever chemical” nature, making them capable of reaching the communities’ food and drinking water and staying in the bodies of the populace.

 

If more PFAS are not regulated, more sacrifice zones may be created. PFAS may cause communities across the United States to be sacrificed due to industries inadequately managing their PFAS production and harming the people and the environment. The EPA has regulated some of the chemicals—about six of them so far in drinking water and identifying hundreds of PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).(8) However, the EPA should consider adding more PFAS in future rulemaking actions. Recently, communities face problems with unregulated or underregulated PFAS.

 

Three decades ago, DuPont released a chemical called GenX into Cape Fear River in North Carolina.(9) GenX slowly contaminated the drinking water for the 500,000 people living in three counties.(10) DuPont became Chemours, and Chemours placed self-imposed safeguards to reduce the amount of PFAS flowing into the river.(11) Unfortunately, PFAS bioaccumulate. Depending on the type of PFAS, it takes anywhere from 72 hours to 35 years to leave the body.(12) When eaten or drank, PFAS migrate to protein-rich tissues of the body, which are typically the liver and blood, but PFAS are also detected in the brain.(13) During that time of bioaccumulation, people may report symptoms from a long list of health effects.(14) However, PFAS are understudied and underregulated, making proving knowledge of contamination in humans and in the area difficult.

 

As many as 49,145 industrial facilities may exist as PFAS contamination sites.(15) The severity of PFAS contamination throughout the United States cannot be overstated, and it is imperative that PFAS are regulated more before heavy PFAS  pollution creates a trend of sacrifice zones. The disproportionate harm brought on those on the frontlines of PFAS exposure is likely to continue to be a subject of concern in the future.