Hard to image this happened. But here is a group of kids back in 1982--including disabled children--being sprayed with a PFAS-based firefighting foam at a US Air Force base near Philadelphia, a chemical now associated with a range of serious health consequences including cancer 
I send out this tweet as NYT posts a story I just wrote detailing that the United States--two decades after evidence first surfaced of the dangers associated with PFAS chemicals--is starting the first national health effects study nytimes.com/2019/12/05/us/…
The dangerous of PFAS--a class of chemicals that was popular with Teflon nonstick pans and Scotchgard stain resistant fabrics--is also the focus of a new feature film called Dark Waters, starting Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins focusfeatures.com/dark-waters
This film was based on a NYT magazine story about the life of an Ohio lawyer Robert Bilott, who has spent 20 years trying to get companies like DuPont and 3M to accept responsibility for harm caused by these chemicals nytimes.com/2016/01/10/mag…
I got the chance to speak with Rob Bilott a few times this week. Rare to find someone so passionate about an issue--one that has such enormous public consequences--that he will commit much of his adult life to it. Rob has also written a book amazon.com/Exposure-Be-Co…
This film, Dark Waters, opened with a limited run a few weeks ago. As of Friday, it will be, I was told, in 2,000 movie screens nationwide. Major public attention to a public health crisis in the United States. PFAS has contaminated groundwater in spots across the the nation.
I traveled last week to Warminster PA, where residents drinking water was contaminated for decades with PFAS before they learned about the problem. The runway from defunct military base is still there, converted into a children's play area. But so are the pollutants in the ground
Here is a link to the interactive map by Environmental Working Group where you can look at see if you live in an area where groundwater is contaminated by PFAS. ewg.org/interactive-ma…
