Alaska State Senate Bill 67 would help prevent further contamination of Alaska waters with per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS threaten the health and wellbeing of working-class people across Alaska. PFAS are carcinogenic and disrupt hormones. They are toxic to the thyroid, kidneys, liver, brain and cardiovascular and reproductive systems. Because of extremely strong chemical bonds, they do not break down in the environment and accumulate in human and animal tissue. Recent studies including those by the local nonprofit Alaska Community Action on Toxics, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation show almost every water system tested including drinking water sources are contaminated with PFAS. These water sources contain PFAS well above the EPA’s guidance threshold, above which exposure is likely to have adverse health effects. How did our drinking water and beloved local lakes become contaminated with PFAS?
PFAS are manufactured by multinational corporations. Despite knowing some of the adverse health effects of PFAS, manufacturers like Dow Chemical Company and DuPont deliberately produced them without disclosing the risks. These corporations have made fortunes from the manufacture of PFAS for commercial firefighting foams and consumer goods like non-stick cookware and rain jackets that we eat from and wear every day. While there are non-toxic alternatives to PFAS, the health and well-being of working-class people is inconsequential compared to the profit from manufacturing PFAS.
PFAS are not unique; they are one outcome of colonial and capitalist economic, political, and social system that prioritizes profit and growth while distributing harms to the working class, especially the most vulnerable. While manufacturing PFAS or developing oil and gas is lucrative for corporations and their wealthy shareholders, the working class bears the worst of climate change and pollution. Within the working class, Indigenous, Black, and Latinx people(s) are among the most exposed to the negative effects of pollution and climate change.
While it is essential to dismantle the systems that create pollution and climate change in the first place, it is also important to support harm reduction measures such as Senate Bill 67 which would help ensure safe drinking water.
— Dylan Jones
Anchorage
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