EJQ4 - Spring 2025 - Journal - Page 10
Cultivating consensus
Notable achievements aside, however, PFAS have become one of the most
talked about environmental bête noires of our time. “The bond between carbon
and 昀氀uorine is one of the strongest in organic chemistry, so the main concern
is their persistence in the environment and their tendency to bioaccumulate,
especially in species at the top of the food chain,” says Sébastien Sauvé, a professor of environmental chemistry at the Université de Montréal.
Evidence linking at least some of the compounds to cancer, diabetes and
multiple immune, metabolic and reproductive disorders has placed some of
the chemicals, if not the entire class, in the big leagues of existential-level societal crises. PFAS have made our lives comfortable and convenient and
quite convincingly thwarted lethal harm, yet some of these chemicals are
classi昀椀ed in the St ockholm Convention list of persistent organic pollutants
and have been subject to high-level cleanups and legislative actions.
IN JUNE 2024, MORE THAN 300 PEOPLE
AND 28 TEAMS DESCENDED ON THE
JACK GARLAND AIPORT TO PARTICIPATE
IN AN AIRCRAFT PULL TO RAISE FUNDS
FOR THE LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE
UNITED WAY. CREDIT: JACK GARLAND
AIRPORT/FACEBOOK
Last March, Connecticut banned the release of wastewater sludge
containing PFAS as well as its use in 昀椀re昀椀ghting personal protective gear,
and mandated labels when PFAS are intentionally added to consumer goods.
Massachusetts followed soon afterwards with a prohibition, scheduled to
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • S PRI N G 2 0 2 5 • P AGE 1 0
