Rutgers Expert Can Discuss N.J. Directive on PFAS Pollution

New Brunswick, N.J. (March 26, 2019) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Keith R. Cooper can discuss this week’s N.J. Department of Environmental Protection directive for five chemical companies to address and pay for cleaning up PFAS chemical contamination.

The directive requires Solvay, DuPont, Dow DuPont, Chemours and 3M to give the DEP an accounting of their use and discharge of long-lasting polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (known as PFAS chemicals) in New Jersey. The state will also hold them financially responsible for the cost of remediation and treatment of PFAS-related contamination, according to a DEP news release. PFAS are cause for concern because none of them occurs naturally and they do not break down in the environment. Research suggests that they pose a range of human health risks, even at low levels, especially to developing fetuses and infants.

“I totally agree with the action taken by the DEP commissioner concerning the PFAS contamination in the state, as there needs to be an accounting of the usage and disposal pathways that have been used by these industries,” said Cooper, a toxicologist and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology who chairs the DEP-affiliated New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute.

“An inventory of the industries, products produced and the volumes of these compounds used in production processes can enhance the state’s ability to identify groundwater and surface waters that may be impacted,” he said. “It is important that historical as well as current production volumes be reported due to the fact that these compounds do not break down under normal environmental conditions and have been detected in drinking water supplies around the state.”

Cooper is available for comment at [email protected]

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