3 U.S. Representatives To Hold PFAS Meeting

Three members of the U.S. House of Representatives will host an event Tuesday to highlight research being done into how toxic chemicals have impacted the local water supply.

Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Ambler), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Middletown) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) will host the event on PFAS at Temple University's Ambler campus.

Dean's office said the event will celebrate news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has chosen Montgomery County as one of seven sites for a nationwide study on PFAS and public health.

The study will bring $1 million in research funding to the area.

The representatives will be joined by Temple researchers Resa Jones and Robin Taylor Wilson, who will discuss current research on PFAS's health impact, how the new study will be carried out and what it hopes to discovery. Local clean-water activists also will speak.

The event is set for Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 3:30 p.m. at The Campus Lounge of Bright Hall at Temple Ambler, at 580 Meetinghouse Rd. The public is invited to attend.

PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are man-made chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1950s. They have been used in non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, some cosmetics, some firefighting foams and products that resist grease, water, and oil.

In the Montgomery and Bucks area, they are believed to have entered the water supply through a firefighting foam used on the now-closed Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Horsham.

The work by Temple researchers is part of a recently announced effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies to better understand the impact of PFAS in areas including Bucks and Montgomery counties.

The federal agencies are providing an initial $1 million per year to seven U.S. sites for the study. The total funding for the Pennsylvania project is expected to be $5 million, Temple announced.

Temple researchers will be focusing specifically on the potential link between cancer and PFAS in groundwater.

Under the nationwide study, at least 2,000 children and 6,000 adults who were exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water will be recruited. Researchers will look for relationships between the exposure to the chemicals and their health.

They'll measure PFAS levels in the subjects' blood samples and urine, gather health information and compare results in communities exposed to PFAS to the general public.