A May 16 report by Consumer Reports describing the prevalence of PFAs in our environment reveals their presence in non-stick cookware, water-resistant clothing, food packaging and cosmetics.  This category includes over 14000 chemicals that persist in the environment and the human body for a very long time (“forever chemicals “) and have been implicated in diseases such as cancer, thyroid disease, liver damage, increased cholesterol levels, obesity and hormonal disorders.  They are so pervasive today that they can be detected in air, soil, human blood, and water around the world.  Our responsibility to protect God’s creation, as well as our own health, challenges us to address these dangers by advocating for strong limits on the levels of these chemicals in our water.  Recent proposals by the EPA would rescind and reconsider limits in drinking water established in 2024 on four of these compounds and delay enforcement of limits on two others of the most concerning ones, as well as requirements that public water systems monitor these six compounds and act if levels rise above prescribed limits.  Only 11 states have established standards for PFA levels in drinking water; Missouri isn’t one of them.  Consumer Reports has an online petition asking the EPA to limit these chemicals in our water, and/or we can contact our public water utility and health departments and local, state and federal elected officials to voice our concerns.  This issue affects all of us, all of creation, as well as future generations.  
Submitted by Sharon Barron