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Final thoughts: I wish I could see all of you! Please keep asking questions, get involved in your community, give your so-called leaders HELL. We can do this constructively and thoughtfully... and stay with it. The change will happen with all of your voices. Don't forget that. We'll be here again and none of us can do this without each other. It's the truth. Thank you!!

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How can DoD get away with this? I have found the 3M MSD Sheets (material safety data) that clearly warn of the risk of PFAS. The DoD has their own MSD (that I also have obtained a copy of) that list the risk. Most “regular” military aren’t privy to this information. They used AFFF foam without knowing the dangers. They are not just limited to ingesting them through drinking water, but also inhalation. In a 2018 report by DoD they acknowledge that they used AFFF and were aware of the dangers. The plan was to phase it out. The report indicates that they will continue to use it for both active fire suppression and training until another chemical can be found that works as well. There have been no changes to their procedures in regards to its use and disposal.

Currently there are approximately 700 US Military bases with contaminated water. One base is even giving bottled water to the residents of base housing.

How can they continue to get away with this? They know their actions are dangerous and potentially making people sick or even killing them. How is this different than murder?

The DoD’s continued use doesn’t just effect the people living on the bases, but the run off is potentially contaminating local water supplies as well. A perfect example is the contamination to the shallow aquifers in Virginia near Langley AFB.

We have to join together and fight this. We have to make our voices heard. That is why we formed Project Your Voice.org. We hope that we can create a data base of Military, Veterans and their families that have been exposed.

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Hi Erin! Your doing these Q&A sessions is so great, thank you! Yes the PFAS are a big concern and what can we do? I am a Sustainability Commissioner in Palm Springs CA (yep, me again) and the issues of various toxic poisons is my big focus, obviously the water, air & soil are all suffering...what can we do locally? My next council meeting is April 20th....please advise, any help is much appreciated! be well always! Yours, Sandra G.

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Erin – I admire your work but I have to ask, are you willing to really get serious about water quality? It is an extremely complex issue. I work every day with small towns and communities and homeowners on drinking water issues. The problem is not only woefully under funded but people don’t value water. They are not willing to support water quality work financially. There is incredible inertia at EPA because of the fear created by the flint situation. There are millions of people on private wells and if they are dealing with contaminated water what solutions are offered to them? Treating for PFAS is expensive - Are we willing to invest in water treatment and distribution? Whenever you hear politicians talk about infrastructure it’s all roads and bridges and now broadband Internet. We invest much more in cell phone towers then we do in water. I’ve reached out to you in the past and would love to engage with your team about these issues. We have solutions, they involve leadership and regional approaches to creating a water grid that delivers safe reliable and affordable water to everyone within a reasonable distance of a reliable water source. Would love to discuss that with you. Thanks. Bill Senft- Executive Director NonprofitWater.org

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founding

On the show MASH, somehow sexist & cute & real & LOL with all the feels about war & what's real character Tapper John, Wayne Rogers, a self-made multi-millionaire invested in building homes & went to women for their opinions & decisions of what they wanted in a home because he said women know what they want & make all the major financial decisions. Happy Wife Happy Life?

We decide what insurance to buy, home to live in, schools to go to but have no choice or voice in what’s causing our kids & ourselves to get sicker quicker?

Why not boycott the companies & demand DO NO HARM? On Bloomberg yesterday live talk show, the corporations being represented by women are sharing poison filled companies’ products so-to-speak. They spew how great it is for us to work for them but not what’s being sold & slathered & lathered all over our children’s skin or sprayed all over our homes & schools. “CIDE” means to kill be it a pesticide or germicide, it’s not different the damage it causes to insects & germ of what it does to people….. I asked them what was in the products they used today that may make them sick or have cancer tomorrow?

Our homes are built & filled with the un proven if it’s safe at all products. Since we can go to the moon & fly beyond the stars & make plans to live on Mars shouldn’t we couldn’t we demand that what we dump & pump into our water & Made in America bought & sold products be proven safe first?

Shouldn’t we make our politicians & CEO’s allowed to dump toxins into our Land, Air &Water also drink the water we drink from our kitchen sink?

Shouldn’t we teach in schools what impacts IAQ-Indoor Air Quality & BUILDING SCIENCE. All kid’s & teachers & staff’s lives are being placed at potential risk more than before from chemical exposures. Even more so now than before because of Covid 19. In addition, to other proven for decades health risks to lead, asbestos, molds & proven there is never any safe indoor molds, in addition to potential risks to the drinking water too.

These facts have been proven & aren’t a mystery. Why do we teach kids about science & math & history but reject the risks & harm from what our products can cause them preventable sickness, suffering & misery? Women stopped war by refusing to share their cookies so-to-speak.

Women should not be used & be tools for the changes we need for all our kids’ fate & sake. Don't you think? Men don't get the easy to read & follow message of shorter life spans or low sperm & no sperm counts & shrinking man parts so they are obviously not using critical thinking.... For all of us/US every day go online & socially media blast & demand what we want every day until the stock markets make is safe ofr all of us/US here across the pond & beyond?

SHOULD WE ALL COLLECTIVELY BOYCOTT STOCK MARKETS & CORPORATIONS TO STOP POISON ON PURPOSE PROFITS?

#DoNoHARM #ProveItsSafeFirst #PoisonOnPurposeProfitsStopIt

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founding

Can we start a complain campaign of sorts? Evidence, history, math & science all prove that healthy & safe communities & countries are economically successful. What's in the water CEO's are drinking? NoBODY is safe or immune & all exposures are cumulative & detrimental physically, mentally & financially. Do they think their homes are safe & they can escape? Even you know that's not true & finding a safe place to live is not probable & mission impossible. Why are real estate, insurance & pharma etc. allowed to do research & turn around & still deem us all collateral damage for political & economic gains? heir gain$ = ALL Our Preventable Pain. The only way they hear anyone is by banking on it & taking away all their profits. Can all of us come together to end our poison filled plumes of sickening doom? Made in America shouldn't mean more diseases, suffering cancers & death. Can AmeriCANs BOYCOTT CHEMICALS & PRODUCTS THAT ARE NOT PROVEN SAFE FIRST?

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how wide is the testing for PFAS in our food? is all food screened for these things?

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There is fiberglass dust in food and water also. I will be building a chemical free house soon because my breathing is so bad. It’s the only way I can survive and get healthy to continue fighting. Your encouragement on Twitter has been so helpful. Thank You for all you do. My story is below.

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This is not so much a question about PFAS, but your work on this issue got me started on research that ended up going beyond factory chemicals and I found myself learning a lot about how agricultural chemicals are also contaminating our water systems, as well as how our current food system is hugely detrimental to the health of us and the entire planet. I wonder if you've done much research on regenerative agriculture, or permaculture, and what you think about it. It seems to me that a switch to a system of agriculture without chemical fertilisers and pesticides is going to be a requirement in order to keep toxic waste out of our water systems because it seems like PFAS is only the half of it. I mean, looking at what's going on with Monsanto and their pesticides right now seems to be almost identical to the story of Dupont with PFAS. Holistic grazing management will also solve the issues of manure waste. Regen ag systems also have the additional benefit of producing more nutritious food and fostering a more resilient ecosystem. Even in organic systems, if you are tilling and using monocrops the soil is being degraded, which leads to weak plants more susceptible to disease and pests, reduced nutrients, more floods, droughts, erosion, etc. But most people I try to talk to about regenerative ag tend to look at me like I have two heads. So I guess my question is, is this something you've looked into at all? I'm kind of at a point where I'm trying to figure out how to start a movement in my community to raise awareness on these issues, but I feel a bit lost on how to do it and explain things in a way that makes sense without being too overwhelming for people.

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Australia seems to be doing well against PSAFs. They have a PFAS contamination response protocol, and a PFAS national environmental management plan, and implemented guidelines to provide advice to government agencies involved in responding to PFAS contamination. A PFAS taskforce, established in 2016, coordinates these initiatives.

I have nothing on how well it's working. (:-|)

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Is there anything in the works to get CA on board with regulating PFAS in water supply?

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I'm in Canada and I expect we have the same PFAS threat as the U.S. So often we get treated as America's "branch plant." If we boycott the products that contain it, would we likely starve?

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I’m in New Jersey and my house is offgassing formaldehyde and benzene due to damage done in storm Sandy in 2012. Fiberglass insulation was damaged and replaced but not contained. I’ve researched for six years, this affects 3% of population and makes us extremely sick with breathing problems. Drs and Government environmental agencies refused to help and have blocked me. My skin and mucous membranes actually burn 24/7. Can’t get anyone to listen. There are three support groups on Facebook for this condition, it’s Real. Please help. Thank You for all you do.

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founding

Thanks Erin! "Q" Are you worried sending kids back into schools risks their health to more toxic IAQ-Indoor Air Quality risks & potential more harmful chemcial expsoures? Are ynou worried that scented products & cleaners are also full of "Trade Secret" PFOA & PFOS?

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Hi Erin,

Been trying to go through your site to contact you and it won’t let me neither my neighbor. We have been struggling for years with bad water in our city and it’s only getting worse. We the residents of Sulphur La really need your help.

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Hi Erin,

Thank you for your constant fight and giving a voice to struggling communities. I live in Pittsboro, North Carolina down stream to the famous textile industry in Burlington, Reidsville and Greensboro. We are drinking the Haw River water which is contaminated with PFAS, 1,4-dioxane and who knows what else. We are consistently being ignored and I'm seeing people and pets alike struggling with health complications. I, myself, had to move off town water to help save my family. We were all suffering from digestive issues and my husband ended up losing his gall bladder suddenly. I've established an advocacy group, Clean Haw River, to help get my local citizens educated but I could use any and all help you can offer. I'm hopeful to get North Carolina regulations set but would love your guidance. Our DEQ is in the process now of deliberating over ground water standards for PFOA and PFOS but it's not enough....we need more. Where should I start? I feel lost in this process.

I recently had a local publication include my story and thought you might interested:

https://www.theassemblync.com/long-form/silent-waters/?fbclid=IwAR1O8ijlyIu7AaV9T2FHBlDoEjPxPtkrnzDOpKg5IjgvnVhshimuvMbd_YQ

Thank you again for being an inspiration.

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Hi Erin, my name is Beth Markesino and I am the founder/president of North Carolina Stop Genx in our water. In 2016 I lost my son Samuel due to placenta problems during pregnancy. Since then I have had a lot of endocrine problems. I am so sick rite now with an adrenal tumor and parathyroid/thyroid cysts. I am part of our Genx study and have had my blood tested for PFAS and I know for sure I have these chemicals in my blood. In North Carolina DEQ and Chemours signed a consent order that does not help our downstream communities. I am pushing for PFAS regulations in our state but our state is slow to act, unlike so many other states setting PFAS regulations. We are currently working on PFOS/PFOA groundwater standard, our state wants to set these limits to 70ppt, our community wants a much lower number. Chemours has violated the consent order with DEQ so many times, DeQ issues a NOV and that’s it. No fines or taking away Chemours permits. Any advice from you would be great. I wish to tell more people about my contamination story and how our communities are affected so we can get swift action. Thanks for all that you do, I really appreciate it.

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Much love to you, Erin. You are an inspiration for generations.

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Thank-you Erin & all. It's really nice talking to you, and I am gong to have to go now. If anyone wants to talk with me further on this I am as <fred@fredwilliams.ca>.

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What is the greatest measure we can do to improve the EPA in addressing real reduction of PFAS?

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