A new United Nations report is calling for immediate global action to curb PFAS pollution, describing the chemicals as a “profound threat” to human rights and the environment.
The issue has a direct connection to North Carolina.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Emily Donovan, co-founder of the advocacy group Clean Cape Fear, traveled from Leland in Brunswick County to Geneva, Switzerland, to participate Monday in a dialogue with the United Nations Human Rights Council about PFAS contamination in southeastern North Carolina and across the United States.
Donovan was featured in the WRAL documentary “Forever Chemicals: North Carolina’s Toxic Tap Water,” which examined PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River and its impact on families living near and downstream from the Fayetteville Works chemical plant.
The new U.N. report, “Forever chemicals and human rights,” examines how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, can affect human rights, health and the environment.
PFAS are a large group of synthetic chemicals rated for properties such as resistance to heat, water and grease. Many are highly persistent, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
The report concludes PFAS pose a “profound threat to human rights and the environment” and calls for an immediate ban on all nonessential uses, along with urgent action at every level to control PFAS and prevent further pollution.
For Donovan, the report marks another step in a fight that began close to home.
“I don't know that I ever thought we would get to this point,” Donovan told WRAL from Geneva. “I am so grateful for all the people that helped us along the way.”
Donovan called the report a “global wake-up call and call to action” for world leaders and government organizations to come together.
“I think what this moment has really shown is that a chemical-by-chemical approach, which is why industry has championed and is what regulation has been following, is just not sustainable,” Donovan said. “Not for forever chemicals.”
North Carolina at the center of the PFAS fight
Southeastern North Carolina has become one of the nation’s most prominent examples of PFAS contamination.
For decades, PFAS associated with the Fayetteville Works facility entered the Cape Fear River, a drinking water source for communities downstream. Chemours now operates the facility, which was previously operated by DuPont.
Three years ago, Clean Cape Fear helped bring a U.N. investigation into PFAS contamination in the Lower Cape Fear region. U.N. human rights experts later raised concerns about pollution associated with Fayetteville Works and its impacts on nearby and downstream communities.
The new report emphasizes preventing PFAS pollution at its source rather than relying primarily on communities to remove the chemicals after they have entered drinking water and the environment.
Clean Cape Fear and the National PFAS Contamination Coalition, a network of more than 30 grassroots groups in 21 states, are calling on the United States and other governments to immediately end nonessential uses of PFAS and pursue a legally binding global strategy to phase out the broader class.
The groups are also calling for medical monitoring and treatment for people already exposed to PFAS, environmental restoration and stronger measures to hold companies responsible for contamination accountable.
Donovan said those measures are important because drinking water treatment addresses only one source of exposure.
“Having a drinking water standard is the floor,” Donovan said. “It's not the solution to the total problem. It's just one piece of the problem, and it's only stopping exposures through drinking water.”
Donovan also brought photos of people from PFAS-contaminated communities across the country to Geneva. She said about 45 people sent photos in less than 48 hours after advocates asked to bring their stories to the U.N.
Among them was Sandy Wynn-Stelt of Belmont, who became a PFAS advocate after contamination was discovered in her community.
“It gives me hope. It truly gives me hope for the future,” Wynn-Stelt said. “When other nations, even if our country doesn't pay attention to it right now, when other nations pay attention to it, it changes how business works.”
Chemical industry opposes broad PFAS restrictions
The chemical industry has pushed back against treating all PFAS the same.
The American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group, says PFAS encompass chemicals with different properties, uses and health and environmental profiles. The group supports targeted, science-based regulation and says some PFAS chemistries are critical to industries including health care, energy, aerospace and advanced manufacturing.
Chemours has taken a similar position on fluoropolymers, a type of PFAS. The company says fluoropolymers are critical to industries including semiconductor manufacturing, renewable energy, medical devices and electronics because of properties that can be difficult to replicate with other materials.
The American Chemistry Council and Chemours did not respond to requests for comment.
The U.N. report's recommendations are not legally binding, but they could add international pressure for governments to more aggressively address PFAS production, use and contamination.