Questions about PFAS? You've come to the right place.

Hello! My name is Christy McGillivray, and I’ve joined the Michigan Chapter to work on PFAS and other threats to our Great Lakes. This is the introductory blog post for the Michigan Chapter’s PFAS work. This blog will help us: learn how we can work together to clean up toxic hot spots and end the use of these chemicals; get information on developments at the local, statewide, and national level; and inform citizens about this emerging health threat. Welcome. 

There is a lot of news about PFAS in headlines this week. The Governor has announced a scientific review panel to pursue administrative rulemaking to set a standard for PFAS in drinking water that is more protective of human health, and the MDEQ and the USEPA are holding a hearing in Rockford to discuss the investigation into Wolverine Worldwide's PFAS dumping. I'll have an update on those two news items later. As an introduction, we are going to take a step back to November of 2018. I was teaching chemistry and physics at Eastpointe High School. I noticed that the Department of Natural Resources, (DNR), had issued a “do-not-eat” advisory for deer harvested within a five-mile radius of Clark’s Marsh. A deer had tested at 547 parts per billion for PFOS. My partner grew up hunting in Northern Michigan, and we eat venison whenever we can, so this caught my attention. As a frame of reference for the measurement of 547 parts per billion: it is almost twice what the DNR considers an actionable do-not-eat advisory for fish, and significantly higher than the 70 parts per trillion lifetime health advisory for drinking water issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. PFAS chemicals are also in our fish. Do-not-eat advisories for fish have been extended to include stretches of the Au Sable River. This is particularly heartbreaking, given that the Au Sable is one of the most scenic and pristine rivers for trout fishing in the country.

My students in Eastpointe don’t spend a lot of their time hunting and fishing from our just-east-of-8-mile suburb, but I knew that if wildlife were affected, people would be affected too. I ran a science literacy project in which we learned:

• PFAS should be thought of as a family of thousands of chemicals--it’s not just one particular toxic chemical.
• PFAS chemicals are used in literally thousands of products that we use every day, including food packaging, cosmetics, dental floss, clothing, and cookware.
• PFAS has been found in the blood of almost all Americans, and typically at concentrations about 100 times those in drinking water.
• The State of Michigan had been informed of the danger of PFAS hotspots in 2012, and ignored the report drafted by Dr. Robert Delaney.
• A whistleblower in Minnesota was also ignored in 2006.
• And yes, it’s not just the deer and fish: Michiganders are affected by PFAS contamination.

My students seemed to take the news of PFAS contamination in Michigan in stride. It’s not accurate to over-generalize, but I think it’s fair to say that my students are cynical about the future. I can’t blame them. So, I jumped at the opportunity to work the Sierra Club on PFAS contamination in Michigan. In part because I had been learning about the problem with my students, in part because it broke my heart to see my students stoically facing down yet another source of chemical contamination in their lives, and in part because I have a history of working as an environmental advocate and I wanted to start doing something about PFAS.

PFAS contamination is just the newest symptom of our broken chemical regulatory system, and we are all affected, regardless of whether or not we have been drinking contaminated well water. 

Please email me at christy.mcgillivray@sierraclub.org if you would like to help with efforts at the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club. There will be many opportunities to get involved: stay tuned!