As New Hampshire regulators consider adopting the EPA’s PFOA health advisory as the state’s enforceable standard, a New Jersey committee has recommended setting a much lower standard in that state.
Perfluorichemicals like PFOA are found in Teflon, pizza boxes and firefighting foam. They’ve contaminated drinking water near Merrimack and at the former Pease Air Force base, and many affected here in New Hampshire argue the EPA’s advisory level of 70 parts per trillion is not safe enough. Presently, New Hampshire regulators are considering adopting the EPA’s standard.
On Monday, a state-appointed committee of researchers in New Jersey recommended to state regulators there that drinking water contain no more than 14 parts per trillion of the chemical PFOA. That’s one fifth the federal government’s recommendation. It should be noted, however, the New Jersey level only accounts for PFOA, while the federal government’s level accounts for both PFOA and a related chemical, PFOS.
Jim Martin with New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services says regulators here will take New Jersey’s new recommendation into consideration before they finalize the new state rule.
