{"id":11875,"date":"2019-10-15T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/?p=11875"},"modified":"2022-08-15T14:44:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T18:44:38","slug":"part-1-pfas-what-are-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/part-1-pfas-what-are-they\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1: PFAS: What Are They"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float: right; margin: 12px 6px 12px 12px;\">\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MxCHmxBVW_M\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" 0=\"allowfullscreen\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now known, now quantified, their dangerous presence was once quietly floating under the radar. Quiet, indicates Rainer Lohmann, a University of Rhode Island (URI) researcher, is no longer an option for communities increasingly concerned about PFAS, a group of synthetic substances, in drinking water. \u201cReach up, reach out,\u201d advises Lohmann, lead scientist on STEEP &#8212; Sources, Transport, Exposure &#038; Effects of PFAS &#8212; a partnership project of the URI Coastal Institute to understand, analyze, and address just how harmful PFAs are to people and the environment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForever Chemicals: PFAS &#8211; What Are They?\u201d is the first of an eight-part STEEP video shorts series, \u201cSilent Chemicals, Loud Science,\u201d that explores problems posed by PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), explains how STEEP science is shedding light on the issues, and offers practical and positive steps for making our daily lives safer. The first video illustrates the potency of the persistent chemicals &#8212; clear, invisible foams and coatings used to reduce stickiness in household items like pots and pans, or to make clothes or take-out containers water resistant &#8212; and the harm they pose to drinking water supplies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes so little of these chemicals to have an effect,\u201d says Lohmann, an oceanographer with a chemistry focus. An impactful dose is a \u201ctablespoon of salt in an Olympic sized swimming pool,\u201d and \u201cenough to cause health effects down the road.\u201d Some states are taking notice; New Jersey, Maine and Vermont, for example, aren\u2019t waiting for the federal government to create regulations to protect drinking water from PFAS, and are setting safer exposure limits themselves. Water crosses state and physical boundaries, says Lohmann, so it makes sense for nearby states &#8212; Massachusetts could be next, while Rhode Island is holding out &#8212; to cooperate in establishing limits.<\/p>\n<p>And we can all help protect our water from \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d says Lohmann, offering options: Learn about what is in public drinking water, test private wells, and request state and federal decision makers to protect these resources. \u201cEducate yourself,\u201d he urges, with the many materials here on the STEEP website.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/media\">More Videos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now known, now quantified, their dangerous presence was once quietly floating under the radar. Quiet, indicates Rainer Lohmann, a University of Rhode Island (URI) researcher, is no longer an option for communities increasingly concerned about PFAS, a group of synthetic substances, in drinking water. \u201cReach up, reach out,\u201d advises Lohmann, lead scientist on STEEP &#8212; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002,"featured_media":11887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11875"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16790,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11875\/revisions\/16790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}