Regulation Lags Behind Scientific Understanding
Despite the growing evidence of health risks, there is a lack of regulatory framework looking for PFAS in our tap water. The World Health Organization (WHO) has initiated guidelines for PFAS in drinking water, focusing initially on PFOS and PFOA, but this process is still ongoing – and has been since 2017. That’s eight years in and still nothing concrete and put in practice. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has only recently put enforceable limits in place, and only on some of the PFAS compounds found. Today, many countries are still lacking legally binding standards for protection against these clearly harmful chemicals in their drinking water. This means that tap water containing potentially harmful levels of PFAS could be considered legally safe to drink in many areas. This gap in regulation has left consumers vulnerable to ongoing exposure from their own tap – and likely don’t even know the threat is there!