The Chemours Company’s PPA, or Polymer Processing Aid facility, at the Fayetteville Works plant where the chemical known as GenX is produced, on June 15, 2018 near Fayetteville, N.C.
Credit: Gerry Broome/AP
The chemical caused lab rats to lose weight. When pregnant rats were exposed to it, their pups lost weight, too, and their pups’ skulls, ribs, and pelvises tended to develop abnormally. The compound, referred to by the number “647-42-7” in Environmental Protection Agency records, also caused discoloration of the teeth, increased liver weights, decreased how much their infants nursed, and lowered the animals’ red blood cell counts. One report showed that the clear, colorless liquid caused “increased pup mortality” and, in adult rats, elevated death rates.
Female rats exposed to 647-42-7 “did not appear normal,” as another one of the reports explained, going on to detail their symptoms, which included “dental effects; mild dehydration; urine-stained abdominal fur; coldness to the touch; ungroomed coat; decreased motor activity; ataxia [uncoordinated movements]; periorbital [eye area] swelling; brown fur on the lower midline; hunched posture; and slight excess […]
This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. These chemicals along with endocrine disruptors, and a slew of others will (eventually) be found to increase cancers, ADHD, and a host of other maladies. The unregulated chemical industry is creating many self inflicted wounds.
After Trump put his comrades in the EPA, it has lost it’s ability to do anything of significance, and that fact is a severe tragedy for all of us in the USA.