Forever chemicals tainting food supply, destroying American farmers

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(NewsNation) — It’s 4 a.m. successful Maine, and conscionable similar his begetter and gramps earlier him connected this land, dairy husbandman Fred Stone makes the frigid travel done the snowfall to beverage the cows.

“It was ever known arsenic cows first, radical second, and that’s the mode it’s ever been,” Stone told NewsNation’s Natasha Zouves. “I privation that snowfall wasn’t cold, and I privation rainfall wasn’t wet, and I privation I inactive didn’t emotion my cows. But the much radical I meet, the much I emotion my cows.”

Stone has chosen each of their names and knows them by heart. In the lukewarm barn, helium greets Moon Beam, Blue and Storm Chaser.

“There’s nary phoniness astir the, you cognize precisely wherever you stand, and they’re each different,” said Stone. “Their personalities are each wholly different.”

His full beingness helium says his attraction for his cows has been rewarded with what helium calls “liquid gold.” His household has owned this workplace since 1914, and for much than a century, their high-quality beverage and pick person gone to market.

Now, helium milks them lone to determination each driblet down the drain.

“You either laughter oregon cry, and I ran retired of tears a agelong clip ago,” said Stone.

Fred Stone’s beverage is contaminated, heavy tainted with PFAS, oregon “forever chemicals,” linked with crab and different superior wellness issues.

“This has breached our hearts and crushed our spirit, and I don’t cognize if we’ll ever get that back,” said Fred’s wife, Laura Stone.

In 2016, an innocuous, regular h2o trial connected their spot revealed precocious levels of PFAS — human-made chemicals the Stones had ne'er heard of before.

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They volunteered to trial their soil, cows and milk. All came backmost high. Fred Stone said their beverage inspector informed him that the USDA was considering the imaginable extermination of his cows.

“I said, ‘That’s a hellhole of an idea. I’ll archer you what, I’ll instrumentality the cows down to the extermination site… and I’ll basal determination and I’ll instrumentality the archetypal bullet, and you tin termination the remainder of them.”

Fred Stone had to euthanize 80% of his cows.

“For a agelong while, we were, I conjecture you would telephone it — dead,” said Laura Stone.

Fred installed a $23,000 h2o filtration system, but the contamination returned. He says helium went $1.5 cardinal successful indebtedness trying to prevention his farm, each the portion dumping thousands of gallons of precious milk. The Stones person been dropped by their beverage distributor.

Fred Stone told NewsNation determination is 1 thought successful peculiar that haunts him now:

“At immoderate constituent successful time, hopefully not tomorrow, I’m going to person to archer my begetter and gramps what happened to the dairy workplace they entrusted maine with. And that’s what keeps maine up astatine night.”

Fred Stone’s household has acceptable up a GoFundMe, you tin find it here.

Organic farmers marque a unspeakable discovery

About 120 miles northbound of Fred Stone’s farm, a young mates pooled each of their wealth and enactment it into a dream.

Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis brought their fiddle and banjo and enactment down roots, closing connected a workplace wherever they could settee down, turn integrated produce, person a household — and physique a full life.

And erstwhile it came to naming it, the prime was casual for these 2 musicians: “Songbird Organic Farm.”

"We imagined that we would beryllium present forever. We imagined that we would physique a concern that would enactment our household done our vocation and into our retirement, truthful we thought we were settling down for the agelong haul,” said Nordell.

The thought of preventing improvement and preserving this farmland was besides a man’s dying wish. The mates recovered the workplace done a work that connects retiring farmers with the adjacent generation. The archetypal proprietor had developed pancreatic cancer.

“A terminal crab diagnosis,” said Nordell, “so helium needed to determination rapidly to find the adjacent farmers to instrumentality implicit absorption of this land.”

Under Nordell and Davis’ care, the onshore and concern flourished, and they raised their small boy.

As quality of the contamination connected Fred Stone’s onshore spread, a lawsuit asked Nordell and Davis if they’d heard of PFAS. They voluntarily tested their land.

“The results were high. Our drinking h2o tested astir 400 times the state’s drinking h2o threshold,” said Nordell.

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Maine’s PFAS threshold for drinking h2o is 20 parts per trillion. Nordell says their ungraded besides tested high. He recalls the panic of that time: “We were successful escaped fall, bash we person a business? Do we person a location here?”

Then they had their humor tested for everlastingly chemicals. Nordell says his and his wife’s humor levels are higher than chemic shaper employees who worked successful PFAS factories.

“My humor levels aft surviving for 7 years connected a workplace that was dispersed with sludge 4 times, are higher than those workers successful Decatur, Alabama,” said Nordell.

Davis described a gut-wrenching speech with her small boy:

“He said, ‘Is determination PFAS, is it successful my assemblage and is that bad?' And I don’t adjacent cognize what I said, I couldn’t answer. That’s not thing that I privation to person to speech to my kid astir erstwhile he’s 5 years old.”

The mates unopen down operations, recalled their products, alerted customers and shuttered their integrated farm.

The household hasn’t picked up an instrumentality successful a agelong clip now, they accidental the euphony conscionable isn’t successful them anymore. Health is simply a changeless worry. And determination are questions that defy answers. What does a husbandman bash with a workplace that tin turn nothing?

“It’s weird, I get aggravated astatine the place. I get aggravated astatine the land. As if the crushed underneath america has betrayed us,” said Nordell. “But of course, this spot is simply a unfortunate too, this workplace is simply a victim.”

How everlastingly chemicals became a portion of American life

When the contamination was discovered connected Fred Stone’s land, helium says helium was considered an anomaly. Now, successful the people of this two-year NewsNation investigation, a increasing database of farmers are coming forward, saying they are grappling with the aforesaid find connected their land.

Advocates similar Erin Brockovich are sounding the alarm. She says erstwhile it comes to everlastingly chemicals, “the tempest is here. And it’s not conscionable successful Maine, it’s successful each azygous state.”

“EPA, FDA, governmental leaders, wherever person you been? How did you miss this? Now we person an full country, an full state that is perchance successful peril from this ‘forever chemical’ that has destroyed our land, destroyed our farming, destroyed h2o and destroyed nationalist wellness and welfare. Wow, kudos, bully job,” Brockovich said to NewsNation successful an exclusive interview.

PFAS are colloquially called “forever chemicals” due to the fact that they are astir intolerable to destroy. The people of chemicals, technically called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were created from the top-secret WWII atomic weaponry Manhattan Project.

After the war, 3M bought the patent to make these newly-discovered chemicals, uncovering they did a singular occupation successful resisting water, lipid and stains. 3M created a blockbuster product: Scotch Guard.

Beyond a scope of concern applications, PFAS made their mode into astir each American home, successful carpet and couches, dental floss and rainfall jackets, pizza boxes and shampoo. Under the institution DuPont, everlastingly chemicals entered our kitchens, successful our non-stick Teflon cookware.

“It's successful firefighter gear, oregon it's successful occurrence retardant covering we enactment babies in, it's successful the furnishings that we spray with Scotch Guard, truthful we don't stain something. It's successful our makeup. It's everywhere. It's successful our java cups,” said Brockovich. “It’s everything. It’s beauteous catastrophic, that a chemic similar this has gotten into each facet of our life.”

Forever chemicals person go truthful ubiquitous that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 97% of Americans present person detectable levels of PFAS successful their blood. The USGS says astatine slightest 45% of our drinking water has 1 oregon much benignant of PFAS.

But however did everlastingly chemicals extremity up connected invaluable American farmland?

The reply lies successful a benignant of fertilizer, made from treated quality sewage, called biosolids, oregon much colloquially, “sludge,” and a strategy that spreads it straight connected their land.

Spreading fertilizer 'sludge' connected premier American cropland

“We person this agleam thought that we're going to instrumentality each this sewer sludge, and we're going to dispersed it connected the onshore arsenic fertilizer,” said Brockovich.

Epidemiologist Patrick MacRoy explained however this sludge is produced.

He says the process starts with the manufacturing of PFAS. “3M and others really manufacture these chemicals,” said MacRoy, and these manufacturing plants discharge discarded to a sewer system, which goes to a wastewater attraction facility.

Simultaneously, determination are the PFAS recovered successful our homes, from the covering that is stain resistant to cleaning products and sofas and carpets. MacRoy says erstwhile we cleanable an point successful the washing machine, oregon dump a bucket down the drain, that PFAS-contaminated discarded besides goes to a wastewater attraction facility.

“They person to bash thing with each of those solids that settee out, and that’s what we telephone sludge,” said MacRoy. “Particularly successful the 1970’s, we commencement taking that sludge and applying it to farmland arsenic fertilizer. You person this contaminated sludge that past goes to a section workplace wherever it's dispersed out.”

“If you look astatine the PFAS that's connected the farmland, it goes into crops (that humans eat) oregon goes into crops that are eaten by animals, that we past eat. That PFAS, is eaten by us,” said MacRoy.

MacRoy points retired that astatine nary constituent successful this process does the EPA necessitate sludge to beryllium tested for PFAS earlier being dispersed connected farmland: “EPA requires the sewer districts to trial for a fistful of dense metals, but they ne'er trial for PFAS. It’s conscionable not tested, nary 1 knows.”

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MacRoy says each 50 states are impacted by sludging. Forty-eight states inactive dispersed biosolids today, the lone exceptions being Maine and Connecticut. The Environmental Working Group claims arsenic overmuch arsenic 20 cardinal acres of American farmland could beryllium contaminated by everlastingly chemicals.

“You person astir similar a rhythm that you instrumentality the hazardous waste, use the sludge connected the land, you present contaminate the onshore that contaminates the water, that's contaminated the nutrient chain. We're into a existent superior occupation present with this everlastingly chemical,” said Brockovich.

Fred Stone kept the 1986 missive from Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection, which helium says told him the sludge was harmless to dispersed connected his farm.

“They said it was a safe, harmless worldly to usage connected our fields. And again, we were we were doing our civic work by utilizing it and keeping the worldly disconnected from landfills and what person you. So yeah, it was great. It was a 'win-win situation’ for everybody involved,” said Stone. 

Stone yet ended up sludging his onshore each twelvemonth from 1983 to 2004.

When Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis purchased their farm, they didn’t cognize the onshore had been sludged 4 times by a husbandman successful the aboriginal 1990’s.

“They were told it was their civic work to assistance with the societal occupation of municipal sludge. So they got a atrocious deal. We got a atrocious deal. That was not a bully idea,” said Nordell.

Fred Stone says that without a national information net, helium understands wherefore different American farmers wouldn’t beryllium jumping to trial their land.

“You’re retired determination asking idiosyncratic to sprout you and you’re giving them the weapon and the bullets to bash it with. And you cognize damn good that you’re committing fiscal suicide. That’s what we did,” said Stone.

The insubstantial trail: What did chemic companies know?

NewsNation poured implicit tribunal documents that amusement what Erin Brockovich calls “the ammunition game.”

“It’s moving worldly astir for you know, for the extremity effect that makes them much money, and leaves demolition successful its path,” said Brockovich.

Epidemiologist Patrick MacRoy reviewed the documents with NewsNation.

“We person successful beforehand of america present a ample stack of documents that travel from the chemic companies themselves, documenting what they knew astir PFAS chemicals, their harm to radical and harm to the environment. Most of this was secret, conscionable kept successful chemic manufacture files, close until assorted lawsuits forced them to disclose it,” said MacRoy.

He says the documents commencement with carnal studies successful the 1950s and 1960s, that showed impacts to the liver, kidneys and spleen, and acute oral toxicity.

“Going each the mode backmost to 1963, 3M knew determination were risks with these chemicals. They enactment it successful their ain manual, that they're toxic, and they request precautions,” said MacRoy.

In 1970, a trial connected firefighting foam had to beryllium abandoned erstwhile the substance near each the food dead.

Then, successful 1973, a DuPont survey showed PFAS successful nutrient packaging impacts the livers of dogs.

And successful 1975, the archetypal denotation that PFAS already flowed successful the humor of Americans.

“This was conscionable unrelated to PFAS probe - conscionable scientists looking astatine chemicals successful quality blood,” said MacRoy. “The mean idiosyncratic already has PFAS successful their humor by 1975.”

Court filings amusement that 3M soon replicates this successful their ain studies. A 1979 missive from their lawyers appears to counsel the institution to conceal that the chemic recovered successful quality humor was a benignant of PFAS.

A twelvemonth later, successful 1978, DuPont warned 3M astir the toxic effects of PFAS successful our nutrient packaging.

And by the precocious 1970s to aboriginal 1980s, documents suggest 3M and DuPont were becoming alert that their ain employees were getting sick.

“In 1981, 3M was acrophobic capable astir the imaginable for commencement defects arsenic a effect of these chemicals, that they really reassigned each the pistillate workers successful the works to jobs that didn't impact exposure,” said MacRoy.

By 1984, PFAS starts to look successful water. Specifically, DuPont detects everlastingly chemicals successful Little Hocking, Ohio. They bash not archer the h2o utility.

“The levels they recovered backmost then, would beryllium considered precise precocious today,” said MacRoy.

And done the precocious 1980s done aboriginal 1990s, workers support getting sick — from 3M uncovering elevating crab rates among their workers, their antheral workers much apt to dice from prostate cancer, to DuPont uncovering higher crab rates successful their Parkersburg works workers.

More than 2 decades aft scientists told 3M the humor of Americans contained PFAS, successful 1998, 3M yet alerted the EPA that the benignant of PFAS successful their Scotch Guard builds up successful the blood.

“USDA and EPA, however successful the hellhole did this get by you? It didn't. You knew thing for the involvement of wealth for lobbying power, you turned a unsighted eye,” said Brockovich.

In 1999, a whistleblower came forward; a idiosyncratic astatine 3M by the sanction of Dr. Richard Purdy stepped down and sent a transcript of his resignation missive to the EPA.

“This missive fundamentally says, you person asked maine to effort to assistance place wherever the problems with the substance are. We've identified a immense database of concerns. We request to bash much research, the absorption is shutting maine down. And I consciousness ethically similar I cannot enactment astatine 3M anymore, due to the fact that they are ignoring the subject they are ignoring our petition to bash much study,” said MacRoy.

By 2000, 3M agrees to signifier retired immoderate PFAS successful the people of an EPA investigation. According to the 2010 Minnesota Attorney General Congressional Testimony, astatine this time, 3M publically suggests it precocious learned PFAS are successful quality blood, erstwhile they had known since 1975.

In 2005 and 2006, the EPA fined DuPont $10.25 cardinal and 3M $1.5 cardinal respectively.

A large header came successful 2023, with a multi-billion dollar national colony implicit PFAS contamination successful our nation’s pat water, everlastingly chemicals making their mode into galore U.S. nationalist drinking h2o systems.

“There’s a crushed wherefore they’re settling these lawsuits present for h2o contamination, due to the fact that the much we survey it, the much we find problems, the larger the occupation is going to be. They're rushing present to effort to settee things earlier the afloat scope of the occupation is adjacent understood,” said MacRoy.

NewsNation reached retired to some 3M and DuPont.

Statement from 3M:

As the subject and exertion of PFAS, societal and regulatory expectations, and our expectations of ourselves person evolved, truthful has however we negociate PFAS.

3M announced successful 2000 the signifier retired of manufacturing of PFOA and PFOS worldwide. In December 2022, 3M announced we volition exit each PFAS manufacturing and enactment to discontinue the usage of PFAS crossed our merchandise portfolio by the extremity of 2025.

3M is committed to providing close accusation astir PFAS with due context. We person shared important accusation astir PFAS implicit the decades, including the results of studies 3M conducted connected PFOS. 3M besides published galore of its findings regarding PFAS successful publically disposable technological journals dating backmost to the aboriginal 1980s. Those journals were and stay disposable to the technological assemblage and the public.

Statement from DuPont:

In June 2019, DuPont de Nemours was established arsenic a caller multi-industrial specialty products company. DuPont de Nemours has ne'er manufactured oregon sold PFOA, PFOS oregon firefighting foam.

While DuPont is not a PFAS commodity chemic manufacturer, it does usage prime PFAS compounds wrong concern processes pursuant to applicable environmental, wellness and information rules and standards. Such uses are indispensable to impart circumstantial merchandise show criteria and lone successful products that are indispensable to information and the captious functioning of society. 

Our usage of PFAS is constricted and is managed arsenic a Substance of Concern (SoC) accordant with the company’s Chemical Management Policy – Substance of Concern. We are presently pursuing alternatives to PFAS wherever possible. Additionally, we person rigorous systems, processes, and protocols successful spot to guarantee that PFAS are utilized safely, are controlled to the highest standards, and are minimized successful our operations.

We enactment science-based efforts to make guidelines for PFAS and perpetrate to gathering these requirements successful our planetary operations. We volition proceed to guarantee our products and processes are afloat compliant with laws and regulations connected PFAS. 

Safety, wellness and protecting the satellite are halfway values astatine DuPont. We are committed to continuous betterment of our chemic stewardship process and to upholding the highest standards for the harmless cognition of facilities and the extortion of our environment, our employees, our customers, and the radical of the communities successful which we bash business.  

The relation of the EPA

“The chemic industries hid the afloat grade of the occupation from the EPA until the precocious 1990s. But starting successful the precocious 1990s, EPA had each the information, and they’ve done precise little,” said MacRoy.

MacRoy says “The azygous biggest happening I deliberation EPA could bash contiguous would beryllium to necessitate investigating for PFAS earlier putting sludge connected farmland.”

In June of 2023, NewsNation went to D.C. for an interrogation with Radhika Fox, then-assistant head for h2o astatine EPA. When asked wherefore decisive enactment wasn’t taken by the EPA successful the precocious 1990s, Fox replied: “The important happening is we're taking enactment now. We’re taking swift enactment nether the President’s leadership.”

NewsNation asked wherefore biosolid sludge exertion was inactive continuing if the EPA could not warrant its safety. Fox replied that “land exertion of biosolids is 1 of the captious uses of biosolids from the attraction plants that are treating our wastewater. And successful galore instances, it’s perfectly safe.”

She advised: “One of the champion things that idiosyncratic tin bash is truly amended themselves astir what’s going connected successful their section community. I suggest talking to your section h2o strategy to spot what they're doing, are they investigating for PFAS, are they treating for it? We are moving precise diligently to get this nationalist drinking h2o modular successful place. At the extremity of the day, it is simply a concern with our states and with section communities to unneurotic support the American people.”

In April of 2024, the Biden-Harris medication issued the first-ever nationalist drinking h2o standard, they accidental it volition support 100 cardinal radical from PFAS pollution.

The EPA inactive allows sludging to instrumentality spot successful each 50 states without investigating requirements.

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A radical of Texas farmers are presently suing the EPA. The suit contends that successful failing to modulate PFAS successful biosolid sludge, the bureau violated the Clean Water Act and Administrative Procedures Act. The EPA is presently trying to get this suit dismissed.

“The alleviation they question — an bid directing EPA to place PFAS successful its adjacent biennial report, and to modulate PFAS thereafter — is simply not available,” the EPA wrote successful a September 2024 tribunal filing.

A solemnisation astatine Misty Brook Farm

After 11 agelong months of contamination, the dependable of beverage being poured into solid bottles alternatively of down the drain is euphony to Brendan and Katia Holmes’ ears.

They proudly peel and instrumentality a agleam yellowish “PFAS tested” sticker connected each bottle, carton and jug going to market. They don’t person to, but they privation the nationalist to inquire questions.

They accidental honesty and spot are what made them take this onshore to statesman with from the infinitesimal they asked the erstwhile proprietor however to “get successful and spot the place.”

“I said, ‘Hey, is determination a cardinal to the house?’ He said, ‘Key to the house?! I haven’t locked it since I built it.’ I’m like, alright, that’s the spot I privation to live,” said Brendan Holmes. "When we moved up present it was bash oregon die, we were either going to spell bankrupt oregon marque it work.”

In twelvemonth one, Misty Brook Farm grossed astir $15,000. By 2021, it grossed $2 cardinal and employed 13 people.

“It’s a bully feeling. It’s a milestone. My extremity successful beingness is to permission the portion of onshore that I’m farming successful amended signifier than I got it. If I wanted to marque money, I wouldn’t person gotten into dairy farming. Maybe I’d person gotten enactment for DuPont. But wealth I don’t attraction astir money. I attraction astir prime and integrity,” said Holmes.

Which is wherefore erstwhile a lawsuit asked them if they’d ever tested their beverage for everlastingly chemicals, they instantly enactment up thousands of dollars of their ain wealth for testing. And erstwhile the results came backmost high, they accidental determination wasn’t hesitation.

"People person combat formation oregon freeze. I spell consecutive to fight. And to me, I’m like, good I’m not the lone 1 that this has happened to. And my combat is, I’m going to marque this public,” said Holmes.

They told the nationalist and broke the quality to their boys. Katia recalls the family’s conversation:

“Johnny was like, ‘When bash we person to halt selling the milk?’ And Brennan said, ‘Now.’ Johnny’s like, ‘What are we going to bash daddy?’ And Brennan said, ‘Well, I don’t know... but we’ll fig it out.”

“The archetypal days, weeks, months, we telephone it firefighting, we were decidedly successful endurance mode,” said Katia.

Brendan Holmes had prime words for the chemic companies that profited disconnected of PFAS products and did not disclose what they knew for years.

“When they had the prime of bash we spell nationalist with this oregon bash we expanse this nether the rug, they chose the rug,” said Holmes.

He described the gravity farmers crossed the state are facing with everlastingly chemic contamination, and the deficiency of a information nett oregon recourse erstwhile contamination is found.

“Suicide among dairy farmers and farmers successful wide is incredibly precocious due to the fact that a batch of these farms are 3rd 4th and 5th procreation and you are going to beryllium the idiosyncratic to suffer it, your large great large gramps cleared the land, and you’re the idiosyncratic whose going to person a bankruptcy auction due to the fact that you can’t clasp onto the land.”

They dumped 26,000 gallons of milk.

“We pridefulness ourselves connected producing beverage that mothers tin provender their children, and past to person them telephone america up and beryllium like, ‘Is my kid going to beryllium good due to the fact that I drank your milk?’ And it wasn’t thing we knowingly did,” said Holmes.

Testing revealed their cows had go contaminated from idiosyncratic else’s sludged farm. The tainted provender for their cows successful Maine was grown successful Kentucky.

“We are not liable needfully for however it happened, however the sludge was dispersed 20 oregon 30 years agone that the contaminated soils were wherever the provender came from. But we are liable for however we determination forward,” said Katia.

Their ain family’s bloodwork besides tested precocious for everlastingly chemicals. The Holmes recovered themselves putting it each connected the line, again.

“We borrowed the wealth and we bought 50 cows that were uncontaminated. $73,000 we borrowed for a caller herd,” said Brendan.

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After 11 months, thousands successful loans and testing, making definite each ounce of provender and h2o was untainted, capable clip passed that each of their cows came backmost clean. Their beverage is present astatine “non-detect” levels of PFAS, and income person resumed.

Since the contamination chiefly came from extracurricular the borders of their land, they recovered themselves successful a much tenable concern than farmers similar Fred Stone. But Holmes says helium knows PFAS contamination has a mode of coming back. He worries different farm’s contaminated provender could taint his herd each implicit again.

“The happening that keeps maine up astatine nighttime — successful 2016, we had a terrible drought, and I had to bargain 5 tractor-trailer loads of provender from Pennsylvania. I can’t verify what ungraded that provender from Pennsylvania came from. And (with different drought) I volition beryllium rolling the dice,” said Holmes.

Update connected farmers surviving PFAS contamination

NewsNation is updating these farmers’ stories aft our two-year investigation.

Brendan and Katia Holmes are inactive selling beverage astatine Misty Brook Farms, praying nary contamination comes back.

Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis successfully sold their workplace to the Maine Farmland Trust, it volition beryllium utilized arsenic a probe tract to recognize however PFAS moves done nutrient and water. They person dedicated themselves to advocacy.

Fred and Laura Stone received caller trial results:

  • All of their cows are contaminated with PFAS
  • About 90% of their usable farmland is besides contaminated
  • Fred says the workplace is presently much than $450,000 successful debt

Fred’s household has acceptable up a GoFundMe to assistance with costs

Maine has successfully made bipartisan change, becoming:

  • The archetypal authorities to prohibition sludging
  • The archetypal authorities to prohibition the merchantability of products containing PFAS
  • The archetypal authorities to make a PFAS money to assistance farmers

Forty-eight states, however, proceed to sludge.

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