Sayreville testing water: possible cancer-causing chemical

There are more than 7 million PFAS and over 21 million fluorinated compounds listed in PubChem (2023).
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Sayreville testing water: possible cancer-causing chemical

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Sayreville testing water for possible cancer-causing chemical

Newsday.com - July 25, 2006

SAYREVILLE, N.J. -- Sayreville authorities said they have requested tests of borough's drinking water for the presence of a possibly cancer-causing chemical used to make Teflon.

Borough technicians have sent water samples to a Colorado lab after a study by environmental and labor groups showed trace amounts of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in Sayreville's tap water and streams.

Borough Water Department Chairman Stanley Drwal told The Newark Star-Ledger for Tuesday's editions that the chemical was probably removed through carbon treatment at the borough's four-year-old water filtration plant. However, the borough alerted state environmental officials and have sent samples to Severn Trent Laboratories in Denver for testing.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified PFOA as a "likely human carcinogen," although its effects on people are not clear. It has been found to cause cancer and impair development in rats.

PFOA is a processing aid used in cookware, textiles and food wrappings to make them resistant to stains, water and oil. DuPont spokeswoman Leslie Beckhoff said Tuesday it is used at the 102-year-old plant, which processes printing plates, Teflon finishes and electronic resins.

Beckhoff said DuPont has been testing for the chemical in and around its plant in the Middlesex County town of 40,000 people.

"Even if they've found trace amounts, it doesn't mean it came from our site," Beckhoff said.

The EPA fined DuPont $10.25 million last year for failing to report possible health risks linked to PFOA. Two years ago, the Delaware-based firm agreed to pay as much as $343 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged water supplies in Ohio and West Virginia were contaminated with PFOA from a local DuPont plant.

It faces federal lawsuits from 20 states and the District of Columbia over alleged releases of the chemical. A similar case was filed in April alleging its Salem County plant polluted water in Carneys Point and Penns Grove.

Most of those cases have been consolidated in federal court in Des Moines.

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