来源：《华尔街日报》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月16日
The Environmental Protection Agency sharply lowered safe-consumption levels for so-called forever chemicals in drinking water, signaling its conclusion that the widely found substances are more hazardous than previously thought.
美国环境保护署大幅降低了饮用水中所谓“永久化学物质”的安全消费水平，表明它得出的结论是，这些广泛发现的物质比之前认为的更危险。
While not enforceable, the new levels could have far-reaching effects on state drinking water regulations, pending federal rules and thousands of lawsuits involving chemicals found in firefighting foam and contamination from legacy uses of the chemicals.
虽然不能强制执行，但新的标准可能会对各州的饮用水法规、悬而未决的联邦法规以及数千起涉及消防泡沫中发现的化学物质和这些化学物质遗留使用造成的污染的诉讼产生深远影响。
The EPA’s move on Wednesday came a day after the Biden administration said it would spend $1 billion to address contamination from the chemicals, known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
EPA周三采取行动的前一天，拜登政府表示，将斥资10亿美元来解决全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质(PFAS)造成的污染。
Industry groups said the agency had failed to wait for a peer review of toxicity assessments to be completed. The American Chemistry Council criticized the EPA’s methodology and said the new health-advisory levels will have sweeping implications for policies at the state and federal levels.
行业团体表示，EPA未能等到毒性评估的同行评审完成。美国化学委员会批评了环保署的方法，并表示新的健康建议水平将对州和联邦层面的政策产生广泛影响。
PFAS are a class of thousands of related chemicals that have been used for their water-repellent and fire-retardant qualities. They are called forever chemicals because they accumulate in people and animals and take a long time to break down in the environment.
PFAS是数千种相关化学品的统称，因其防水和阻燃性能而被使用。它们之所以被称为永久化学品，是因为它们会在人和动物体内积累，并需要很长时间才能在环境中分解。
The chemicals have been linked to health problems including kidney cancers and high cholesterol. Some epidemiologists and toxicologists say the chemicals could be toxic at levels far lower than other contaminants in drinking water.
这些化学物质与健康问题有关，包括肾癌和高胆固醇。一些流行病学家和毒理学家表示，这些化学物质的毒性可能远远低于饮用水中的其他污染物。
The environmental agency had previously set a combined health advisory level for two chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, of 70 parts per trillion. The new individual limits for the substances released Wednesday are 0.004 ppt for PFOA and 0.02 ppt for PFOS. For the first time, EPA also set health advisory levels for two others. The level for GenX was 10 ppt, and for PFBS it was 2,000 ppt.
环境署此前为两类化学品全氟辛烷磺酸和全氟辛烷磺酸设定了总和健康建议水平，为70ppt。周三公布的新的单体限值为全氟辛烷磺酸为0.004ppt，全氟辛酸为0.02ppt。EPA还首次为另外两类物质设定了健康建议水平。GenX的上限是10个ppt，PFBS是2000个ppt。
Chemical manufacturer Chemours Co. said that in determining the health advisory level for GenX, which the company uses, the EPA relied on a toxicity study that was flawed and significantly overstates the potential for risk.
化学品制造商Chemours说，EPA在确定该公司使用的GenX的健康建议水平时，依据的是一项有缺陷的毒性研究，该研究严重夸大了潜在风险。