Hudson: GenX Toxicity Assessment Overdue, Step in Right Direction

 

"Protecting our community from the dangers of PFAS chemicals like GenX has remained a top priority," said Rep. Hudson. "Today's assessment is long overdue and a step in the right direction. I have urged the EPA to complete this assessment for years to give our community the information needed to address the safety concerns of GenX. Now the EPA must do more to address other PFAS chemicals and hold polluters accountable. I will continue to work across the aisle to support these efforts and keep our community safe."

 

Rep. Hudson praised the EPA for releasing its draft toxicity assessment for GenX in 2018 after Rep. Hudson hosted an EPA community engagement event in Fayetteville. The draft assessment set chronic and subchronic reference doses at 80 parts per trillion per day and 200 parts per trillion per day respectively. The final assessment released today drastically lowered references doses to 3 ppt per day for chronic and 30 ppt per day for subchronic. The EPA cited additional research which led to the new threshold levels.

 

State officials have been investigating GenX since 2017, when researchers found the chemical and similar compounds in the Cape Fear River, downstream from the Chemours plant. The company agreed to a consent order that requires it to drastically reduce the amount of GenX it emits into the air.

 

EPA’s release of the final GenX chemicals toxicity assessment is a key step toward developing a national drinking water health advisory for GenX chemicals, which the agency committed to publishing in Spring 2022 as part of its PFAS Roadmap.

 

More information on the PFAS Roadmap and Rep. Hudson’s efforts to address GenX and PFAS pollution can be found here.