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‘Forever chemicals’ in drinking water are worrying Mississippi residents

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1 year ago

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If Alabama’s experience foreshadows Mississippi’s future, expect the EPA to find plenty of toxic “forever chemicals” in the drinking water.

A 2022 map shows Alabama with plenty of drinking water exceeding the recommended limit for these chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, kidney disease, liver problems, decreased immunity, and increased risk of asthma and thyroid issues.

Mississippians remain in the dark about these forever chemicals, however, because the state doesn’t test.

Anna Reade, senior scientist at the National Resource Defense Council, said testing is critical to keeping drinking water safe. “We can’t assume we don’t have exposure to PFAS unless we test,” she said. “Maine found high levels of PFAS in wells that had gone untested for two decades.”

Once hailed for producing items that could resist heat, stains or water, these chemicals are now considered a menace around the globe. Five nations have already agreed to a European ban on PFAS.

Such a ban would cover the thousands of different types of PFAS, which can be found in everything from non-stick cookware to dental floss. The most closely studied PFAS are perfluorooctanoic acid — PFOA — and perfluorooctanesulfonate — PFOS.

Rather than ban all PFAS, the EPA initially put health advisories on those two chemicals at 70 parts per trillion in drinking water, which have since been updated to well under 1 ppt for PFOA and for PFOS. EPA’s newly proposed regulation would limit them to 4 ppt each.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan is pushing to reduce current limits because of health problems associated with these chemicals. He said such a change would “prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-related illnesses.”

A 2020 study suggests up to 200 million Americans are drinking forever chemicals beyond 1 part per trillion — a level that some experts have proposed as a safe limit for drinking water.

Les Herrington, director of Environmental Health for the state Department of Health, discounted the health risks to Mississippians. He pointed to EPA testing in 2013 and 2014, which “all produced results below detection limits and did not indicate potential concerns at that time.”

Recent testing by Consumer Reports, in collaboration with Mississippi Spotlight, however, raises questions about what might have happened since.

Consumer Reports tested 149 drinking municipal and well water samples in Mississippi’s 82 counties. Of those, 146 contained measurable levels of PFAS. Nearly a third of them exceeded EPA’s health advisory for PFOA in drinking water, and almost half exceeded the health advisory for PFOS.

Crystal Dotson pour a cup of water in her kitchen in Corinth, Miss., Friday, July 21, 2023. After tests were conducted on several homes in the town, the Dotson’s home proved to have the most evidence of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Crystal Dotson, 39, of Corinth and her family saw their drinking water tested at 92.5 ppt in total PFAS, which is far beyond the level of 10 that Consumer Reports recommends. (The EPA has no recommendation on total PFAS, just PFOA and for PFOS.)

She wonders if the forever chemicals have played a role in the declining health of her family since they moved to the city of Corinth a decade ago.

Her 56-year-old husband, Tim, who was in good health, has now developed high blood pressure and polycystic kidney disease. Both hypertension and kidney disease have been linked to these forever chemicals.

Before moving to Corinth, he took blood pressure medicine. Now he’s allergic to that medicine and similar medication.

Their 17-year-old daughter, Stella, is now suffering from two auto-immune diseases, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. A series of studies have found exposure to PFAS interfere with immune function.

Their 13-year-old daughter, Veda, had to visit a cardiologist because her heart rate and blood pressure were spiking. “They’re running all kinds of tests,” Dotson said.

She said she believes forever chemicals are playing a role in the decline of her family’s health. “You really feel helpless. Our kids are starting out life sick.”

In 2013, the city of Corinth began to get its drinking water from the Tennessee River via the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Experts say PFAS can be found at oil refineries, water treatment plants, airports, military sites and a number of industrial sites. From there, the PFAS migrate into streams, landfills or other places before winding up in the soil and drinking water.

Tim believes his family, which also gets their drinking water from the Tennessee River, has been affected. “My brother-in-law has two types of cancer,” he said. “My sister has brain cancer. Everybody in my family has had cancer.”

Many states aren’t waiting for the EPA to act. Bills attacking the PFAS problem have been introduced in 35 states, including Georgia, Florida and Texas, according to Safer States. At least half have taken steps to regulate PFAS in drinking water or expand their monitoring. Mississippi isn’t one of them.

As for Dotson, she isn’t waiting. She plans to talk with the city of Corinth about these PFAS.

Since learning what was in their tap water, the Dotsons have started drinking from store-bought bottles, costing them about $15 a week.

Water town in Corinth, Miss., Friday, July 21, 2023. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Consumer Reports has identified four water filters, including two pitchers and two under-sink models, that can help consumers filter out forever chemicals.

Some systems, such as reverse osmosis, can cost thousands, which is more than many Mississippians can afford. Even if they can, they might not be able to install such a system, because a third of Mississippians, like the Dotsons, rent their homes.

Crystal hopes the family can convince their landlord to install a reverse osmosis system, she said. “We worry about our children. We want to help them.”

Kelly Hunter Foster, senior attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental advocacy organization, said a more ideal solution would be for states to prohibit the release of PFAS, “rather than try to filter them out on the back end. The public should not have to pay for the pollution that these companies create.”

Mississippi is one of at least 18 states that have sued PFAS manufacturers and distributors, saying they knew “these compounds were toxic” and sold them anyway. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, demands that they pay “to investigate, assess, remediate, monitor, and restore the sites in Mississippi” where PFAS were used. Minnesota settled with one manufacturer, 3M, for $850 million.

Mississippi’s lawsuit identifies these known sites as contaminated: Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center, Gulfport Naval Construction Battalion Center, Keesler Air Force Base, Columbus Air Force Base, Key Field Air National Guard Base, Jackson Air National Guard Base and Naval Air Station Meridian.

Military bases typically use firefighting foam, which has historically contained PFAs. These forever chemicals can be found in many other places, including fast-food packaging. In a 2022 study, Consumer Reports found PFAS in packaging from every retailer tested.

“Additional investigation and testing will undoubtedly uncover further contamination across the State,” the lawsuit says.

In January 2022, Emmy Morrison and her husband bought their downtown Hattiesburg home.

They found water filters on the faucets because of the lead. She was stunned to find out the bigger problem was PFAS.

Thousands of these forever chemicals exist, but regulators test for only a handful of them.

“Unless you are controlling and testing for all those different types of PFAS, you’re missing major amounts of risk,” said Foster of the Waterkeeper Alliance. “When we look at samples we see some of the highest levels in the rare lesser types of PFAS.”

A decade ago, EPA officials tested for six forever chemicals in 80 of Mississippi’s drinking water systems. This year, they are testing for 29 chemicals in 239 water systems and will release the results here.

Consumer Reports tested for 43 chemicals. That is far short of the thousands of PFAS that exist.

Rather than attack PFAS as a class, the regulatory system in America “is stuck on a toxic treadmill,” said Reade of the National Resource Defense Council. “The EPA has taken a small step in the right direction to get off that treadmill.”

In contrast, the European Union is moving toward phasing out all PFAS, she said. “They’re attacking PFAS at their source. Here, we’re still approving new PFAS.”

The National Resource Defense Council is pushing to reduce “people’s exposure to PFAS,” she said. “We can’t make it zero, but we can definitely reduce their exposure and, therefore, their risk. We need to stop adding to the problem in the first place.”

In Morrison’s home, Consumer Reports found a total of 43.6 PFAS, which is four times more than Consumer Reports’ recommendation of 10.

That concerns the 62-year-old Morrison. “I’m glad I’m not young,” she said.

Four decades ago, Fahey House and other Sierra Club members fought to make sure DuPont, which produced PFAS and stored dioxins and other hazardous materials at its plant in DeLisle, didn’t send any waste toward Bay St. Louis.

At least 2,000 people have filed litigation against DuPont, alleging that pollution from the plant has harmed their health, and juries have awarded millions in damages.

In 2005, the EPA uncovered evidence that DuPont had concealed the toxic effects of PFOA, and the company paid a $10.25 million fine, which the agency at the time called the largest environmental administrative penalty in its history.

In 1981, DuPont spotted PFOA in blood samples from pregnant workers in its plant in Washington, West Virginia, and at least one woman had transferred the chemical to her baby, according to the settlement. A decade later, the company learned that the forever chemical was in the public water supply.

DuPont said nothing, and in 2001, the EPA learned of the problem from an attorney working on class-action litigation on behalf of citizens in Ohio and West Virginia who had been affected by the chemical, according to the settlement.

As for House, testing showed total PFAS in her drinking water to be 20.7.

“We’ve got junk in the water,” she said. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Before the 74-year-old moved back to her hometown eight years ago, she had a reverse osmosis system for her drinking water in Tampa. Now back on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, she has no such system.

These days, she uses a refrigerator filter on the tap water she drinks. Now she wonders what she needs to do to be safe. “Do I need to bring Perrier from France?” she asked.

She is researching the matter, she said. “I didn’t come this far in life to want to come down with liver cancer.”

This investigation was conducted by Consumer Reports in partnership with Mississippi Spotlight, a collaboration between Mississippi Today, the Clarion Ledger and Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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On this day in 1958

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23 hours ago

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December 20, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-20 07:00:00

Dec. 20, 1958

Bruce Boynton played a key role in the U.S. Supreme Court case that led to the Freedom Riders protests of 1961. Credit: Jay Reeves/Associated Press

Bruce Boynton was heading home on a Trailways bus when he arrived in Richmond, Virginia, at about 8 p.m. The 21-year-old student at Howard University School of Law — whose parents, Amelia Boynton Robinson and Sam Boynton, were at the forefront of the push for equal voting rights in Selma — headed for the restaurant inside the bus terminal. 

The “Black” section looked “very unsanitary,” with water on the floor. The “white” section looked “clinically clean,” so he sat down and asked a waitress for a cheeseburger and a tea. She asked him to move to the “Black” section. An assistant manager followed, poking his finger in his face and hurling a racial epithet. Then an officer handcuffed him, arresting him for trespassing. 

Boynton spent the night in jail and was fined $10, but the law student wouldn’t let it go. Knowing the law, he appealed, saying the “white” section in the bus terminal’s restaurant violated the Interstate Commerce Act. Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. “Interstate passengers have to eat, and they have a right to expect that this essential transportation food service,” Justice Hugo Black wrote, “would be rendered without discrimination prohibited by the Interstate Commerce Act.” 

A year later, dozens of Freedom Riders rode on buses through the South, testing the law. In 1965, Boynton’s mother was beaten unconscious on the day known as “Bloody Sunday,” where law enforcement officials beat those marching across the Selma bridge in Alabama. The photograph of Bruce Boynton holding his mother after her beating went around the world, inspiring changes in voting rights laws. 

He worked the rest of his life as a civil rights attorney and died in 2020.

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‘Something to be proud of’: Dual-credit students in Mississippi go to college at nation’s highest rate

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24 hours ago

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December 20, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – Molly Minta – 2024-12-20 06:00:00

Mississippi high school students who take dual-credit courses go to college at the nation’s highest rate, according to a recent report. 

It’s generally true that students who take college classes while in high school attend college at higher rates than their peers. Earlier this year, a study from the Community College Research Center at Teacher’s College, Columbia University found that nationally, 81% of dual-credit students go to college. 

In Mississippi, that number shoots up to 93%, meaning the vast majority of the state’s high school students who take college classes enroll in a two- or four-year university. 

“When we did this ranking, boom, right to the top it went,” said John Fink, a senior research associate and program lead at the research center who co-authored the study. 

State officials say there’s likely no silver bullet for the high rate at which Mississippi’s dual-credit students enroll in college. Here, “dual credit” means a course that students can take for both high school and college credit. It’s different from “dual enrollment,” which refers to a high school student who is also enrolled at a community college. 

In the last 10 years, participation in these programs has virtually exploded among Mississippi high school students. In 2014, about 5,900 students took dual-credit courses in Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Community College Board. 

Now, it’s more than 18,000. 

“It reduces time to completion on the post-secondary level,” said Kell Smith, Mississippi C0mmunity College Board’s executive director. “It potentially reduces debt because students are taking classes at the community college while they’re still in high school, and it also just exposes high school students to what post-secondary course work is like.” 

“It’s something to be proud of,” he added. 

There are numerous reasons why Mississippi’s dual-credit courses have been attracting more and more students and helping them enroll in college at the nation’s highest rate, officials say. 

With a few college credits under their belt, students may be more inspired to go for a college degree since it’s closer in reach. Dual-credit courses can also build confidence in students who were on the fence about college without requiring them to take a high-stakes test in the spring. And the Mississippi Department of Education’s accountability model ensures that school districts are offering advanced courses like dual credit.

Plus, Mississippi’s 15 community colleges reach more corners of the state, meaning districts that may not be able to offer Advanced Placement courses can likely partner with a nearby community college.

“They’re sometimes like the only provider in many communities, and they’re oftentimes the most affordable providers,” Fink said.

Test score requirements can pose a barrier to students who want to take dual-credit courses, but that may be less of a factor in Mississippi. While the state requires students to score a 19 on ACT Math to take certain courses, which is above the state average, a 17 on the ACT Reading, below the state average of 17.9, is enough for other courses. 

Transportation is another barrier that many high schools have eliminated by offering dual-credit courses on their campuses, making it so students don’t have to commute to the community colleges to take classes. 

“They can leave one classroom, go next door, and they’re sitting in a college class,” said Wendy Clemons, the Mississippi Department of Education’s associate state superintendent for secondary education. 

This also means high school counselors can work directly with dual-credit students to encourage them to pursue some form of college.

“It is much less difficult to graduate and not go to college when you already possess 12 hours of credit,” Clemons said.

Word-of-mouth is just as key.

“First of all, I think parents and community members know more about it,” Clemons said, “They have almost come to expect it, in a way.” 

This all translates to benefits to students. Students who take dual-credit courses are more likely to finish college on time. They can save on student debt.

But not all Mississippi students are benefiting equally, Fink said. Thr research center’s report found that Black students in Mississippi and across the country were less likely to pursue dual-credit opportunities. 

“The challenge like we see in essentially every state is that who’s in dual enrollment is not really reflective of who’s in high school,” Fink said.

Without more study, it’s hard to say specifically why this disparity exists in Mississippi, but Fink said research has generally shown it stems from elitist beliefs about who qualifies for dual-credit courses. Test score requirements can be another factor, along with underresourced school districts. 

“The conventional thinking is (that) dual enrollment is just … another gifted-and-talented program?” Fink said. “It has all this baggage that is racialized … versus, are we thinking about these as opportunities for any high school student?”

Another factor may be the cost of dual-credit courses, which is not uniform throughout the state. Depending on where they live, some students may pay more for dual-credit courses depending on the agreements their school districts have struck with local community colleges and universities. 

This isn’t just an equity issue for students — it affects the institutions, too. 

“You know, we’ve seen that dual-credit at the community college level can be a double-edged sword,” Smith said. “We lose students who oftentimes … want to stay as long as they can, but there are only so many hours they can take at a community college. 

Dual-credit courses, which are often offered at a free or reduced price, can also result in less revenue to the college. 

“Dual credit does come at a financial price for some community colleges, because of the deeply discounted rates that they offer it,” Smith said. “The more students that you have taking dual-credit courses, the more the colleges can lose.” 

State officials are also working to turn the double-edged sword into a win-win for students and institutions. 

One promising direction is career-technical education. Right now, the vast majority of dual credit students enroll in academic courses, such as general education classes like Composition 1 or 2 that they will need for any kind of college degree. 

“CTE is far more expensive to teach,” Clemons said.

Smith hopes that state officials can work to offer more dual-credit career-technical classes. 

“If a student knows they want to enroll in career-tech in one of our community colleges, let’s load them up,” Smith said. “Those students are more likely to enter the workforce quicker. If you want to take the career-tech path, that’s your ultimate goal.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Ex-Capitol Police officer faces federal civil rights charge

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1 day ago

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December 19, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – Mina Corpuz – 2024-12-19 18:25:00

A former Capitol Police officer has been accused of violating the civil rights of a handcuffed man whose head he slammed into the hood of a car and kicked in 2022. 

Jeffery Walker, a former officer with the Flex Unit, was in federal court Wednesday. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison for one charge of deprivation of rights under the color of law. 

The person Walker is accused of injuring is identified in court records as E.S. 

On July 27, 2022, Walker was on duty and driving an unmarked car when he tried to stop E.S.’s car, but E.S. did not pull over and led Walker on a chase, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. 

Three unnamed Jackson Police Department officers joined in the chase until Walker cut E.S. off, which caused Walker to hit a tree and E.S. to swerve into a yard. Walker and the JPD officers approached E.S.’s car, pulled him out, put him on the ground and handcuffed him. 

The indictment states Walker grabbed E.S. by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the car hood, before putting him back on the ground and kicking him in the head and face. 

Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris approved an unsecured $10,000 bond for Walker. 

Walker’s trial is scheduled for Feb. 10, 2025 with U.s. District Judge Henry Wingate. 

The former Capitol Police officer also faces an excessive force lawsuit filed last year stemming from an incident that happened weeks after the 2022 incident. 

On Aug. 14, 2022, Sherita Harris was a passenger in a car driven by her friend. As the car waited for a traffic signal to turn green on State and Amite streets, the lawsuit alleges Walker and Capitol Police Officer Michael Rhinewalt approached the car from behind, turned on its emergency lights and directed the car to pull over. 

Shortly after the driver pulled over, Rhinewalt began to shoot into the car, according to the lawsuit. The driver fled to avoid bullets, but Harris was hit in the head and slumped over in her seat.

She was taken to the hospital where she had surgery to remove bullet fragments from her head, according to the lawsuit. The injuries left her with lingering issues including with her speech and cognitive abilities. 

As of December, the lawsuit remains active. The lawsuit seeks $3 million in damages, and the case is expected to go to trial in October 2025. 

The officers offered a different account. 

Walker was called as a witness in a September 2022 preliminary hearing for Sinatra Jordan, the driver of the car, who has been charged with fleeing law enforcement, assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. 

NBC News reported about Walker’s testimony in which he said the car ran a red light and took off after the officers got out of their cruisers. Walker and Rhinewalt chased the car and said they heard gunshots coming from it and saw items thrown out of the window. 

The car crashed into a curb and they saw the driver with a black object in his hands, prompting them to return fire. 

Jordan remains at the Raymond Detention Center and is expected to go to trial in March 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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