The Hidden PFAS Crisis: What Happens to Toxic "Forever Chemicals" After Disposal

May 23, 2022: Cancer Free Economy Network (CFE) together with Sierra Club and Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) will convene a two-day virtual symposium today, May 23 and tomorrow, May 24 beginning at 2:00 PM EDT. The symposium builds on testimonies given by impacted community members at CFE’s November 2021 PFAS Incineration Town Hall. The Symposium will offer further community case studies and discussions on how to move from descriptions of the problems with PFAS disposal toward equitable solutions.

Panel discussions will focus on the impact of toxic “forever chemicals” which take decades or longer to break down on communities living near, and downstream of, PFAS disposal facilities; the fight to protect communities from further harmful exposures; and the urgent need for safeguards that promote safe and equitable disposal solutions.

PFAS are commonly used in thousands of products people use daily, from non-stick cookware to water-proof clothing to cosmetics, and more. These chemicals have been linked to cancer, reproductive health issues, and also harm the immune system. 

“I am excited to see the momentum to address the crisis of PFAS waste. Gaps in state and national laws move PFAS and other toxic wastes into historically burdened communities where it slips easily back into the environment. These chemicals are toxic at such low levels, persistent and mobile in the environment, that they require new, safer disposal methods.” — Linda Birnbaum, Scientist Emeritus, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program

As of today, the only PFAS disposal laws in effect are an incineration ban in New York and Maine’s restriction on the application of sludge to agricultural land, leaving communities and advocates to wonder where all the cancer-causing chemicals will go.

PFAS chemicals are often disposed of in incinerators and landfills. Historically, these sites have been located in low-wealth communities and neighborhoods where Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) live. The negligent practice of disposing of PFAS and overburdening these communities has led community organizers and top scientists to sound the alarm. 

“Today’s aging incinerators and landfills can be as harmful as production sites in spreading PFAS pollution into the environment. As states start to put limits and bans into effect, what will happen to all the toxic waste? We urgently need laws and policies to halt these reckless disposal practices and guidance for safer disposal.” — Jane Williams, California Communities Against Toxics

“As urgency builds to get PFAS out of our neighborhoods and drinking water, we need solutions to safely contain and destroy these chemicals. Today’s PFAS wastes are flushed down drains, leak into the ground from dumps, or blow out of smokestacks - all perpetuating the cycling of this ‘forever’ waste.” — Sonya Lunder, Sierra Club

“Our community has been able to pause the construction of a biosolids incinerator in our city, but the work is not done. We need to ensure biosolid incineration is not an option anywhere, invest in the use of safer alternatives for toxic chemicals in manufacturing and waste streams, ban PFAS, and use innovative technologies to neutralize or destroy contaminated waste.”— Sherry Costa Hanlon, Clean Air Taunton 

The PFAS Disposal Symposium aims to connect stakeholders and foster further collaboration. It will bridge siloed work and begin to build a cohesive national strategy by bringing together community members, organizers, scientists, government officials and policy experts to discuss the current solutions to the disposal crisis.

"The goal of the symposium is to bring together folks working across the spectrum of the PFAS crisis to develop equity-centered solutions. We need to continue to turn off the tap in a way that doesn't just transfer the problem from one community to another" — Kathryn Alcantar, Center for Environmental Health & Cancer Free Economy

The symposium will include an opening keynote from renowned toxicologist and advocate Linda Birnbaum, and three panels over two days followed by a solution oriented strategy session. Birnbaum is the former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program (NTP). 

Find more details in the previously released Media Advisory, and view the Bios & Headshots packet.

Register for the event and see the agenda.

This symposium is being convened by the Cancer Free Economy Network; the Center for Health, Environment and Justice; and Sierra Club. Event sponsors include the Center for Environmental Health, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, the National PFAS Contamination Coalition, Silent Spring Institute and Zero Breast Cancer. Spanish translations will be provided by Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.