Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner implored Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar Tuesday to release a study on the dangers of chemicals in drinking water after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt asserted that his agency does not have the power to do so.
Turner had written a letter to Pruitt calling on him to make public a federal study that found a class of chemicals that have contaminated water supplies are harmful to human health at lower levels than the EPA previously deemed safe.
Emails produced by a Freedom of Information Act request show the EPA and the White House tried to stop the publication of the study of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been linked with thyroid defects, problems in pregnancy, and certain cancers.
Pruitt, in a return letter to Turner and other lawmakers on Monday, downplayed his agency’s role in burying the study and said that only HHS, which prepared the study, has the authority to release it.
Turner, responding Tuesday, said Azar should make the study public, but he also chided the EPA for its role in blocking it.
“Administrator Pruitt’s letter made it clear that the EPA is not currently blocking the release of the study on PFAS, although it did not indicate whether it had sought to block this release previously,” Turner said. “Now that Administrator Pruitt has said HHS does have the authority to release this study, I’m calling on Secretary Azar to do so as soon as possible. The release of this study is a public health and safety issue for every community with a military installation in it, including mine.”
PFAS have been used since the 1940s in Teflon, nonstick pans, electronics, water-repellent clothes, food packaging, and firefighting foam. The chemicals are particularly prevalent around military bases, likely because of firefighting exercises that occur there.
The chemical was used at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Turner’s district, he said.
The study on PFAS, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the EPA’s benchmark for the chemical, at 70 parts per trillion, is six times higher than what it should be. It additionally said exposure to PFAS in drinking levels at just 12 parts per trillion can be dangerous.
An analysis published Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group found that up to 110 million U.S. residents may be exposed to drinking water tainted with PFAS.
The EPA is hosting a summit Tuesday and Wednesday with state and local officials to discuss how to combat PFA contamination.
“It’s clear this issue is a national priority we need to focus on as a country,” Pruitt said at the opening of the meeting Tuesday morning, which also included tribal, industry and nonprofit officials.
