Hope the Health Department comes to this lecture
In its March 11 rejection letter to CLF and TAC, the Health Department claims “Additional research and analysis are needed to better assess the threats of PFASs on public water systems,” because the Department “lacks sufficient quantitative and qualitative data upon which to base appropriate regulations.” Maybe they need to attend this program - Will Collette
Pál Weihe is caught between the culture and traditions of
the Faroe Islands in the Arctic, east of Iceland, and his desire to protect the
residents from marine pollutants that have found their way to this remote
region from industrialized countries.
The pollutants, called poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances
or PFASs, are chemical compounds found in common household goods like non-stick cookware, stain-proof carpets,
pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags and many others – as well as in
fire-fighting foams and other industrial products.
Because they do not break down easily in the environment,
they find their way into the food chain, including into the whales that are a
traditional food source of the Faroe Islanders.
“The average exposure level on the Faroes is not much different from that of Americans, there’s just a different transfer mechanism, “ said Rainer Lohmann, URI professor of oceanography who leads the STEEP (Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFASs) program, a five-year research and outreach project funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that aims to learn how to detect the chemical compounds, how they get into water supplies, and how they harm human health.
“The research Pál is doing is directly related to what we’re
doing here – identifying the biomedical effects of PFASs.”
Weihe, the medical director of the Faroese Hospital System
and head of the nation’s Department of Occupational Medicine and Public Health,
will present a lecture at the University of Rhode Island Thursday, April 11, at
3:30 p.m. about his work to minimize community exposure to the contaminants.
His lecture, “PFASs Around the Globe: Effects on Human
Health of Oceanic Pollutants in the Arctic,” will be held in the Coastal
Institute Auditorium, 218 South Ferry Road, on the URI Narragansett Bay Campus.
The event is the University’s 7th Annual Scott W. Nixon
Lecture held each year by the Coastal Institute in memory of the GSO
estuarine scientist who would have celebrated the study of PFASs.
“Pál is going to talk about the health studies he’s done on
the island and how he realized there was a major problem in this remote
community – a place that’s far from anything to do with chemical production –
and how he was so alarmed by what he found that he had to take action to
protect his neighbors,” said Lohmann.
Because of their remote location, Faroe Islanders eat
primarily whales, fish and birds, since little else is available most of the
year.
“When Pál realized the high contaminant burdens in the
whales, he embarked on an effort to change the tradition of eating whale
products on the islands,” Lohmann said.
“He stepped in and said that they shouldn’t eat whale meat
any more, especially women who planned to have children. It’s had the effect he
wanted – most women eat very little or no whale any more – but some people say
that he’s destroying their culture and tradition. He says he had no choice.”
A visiting scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of
Public Health, Weihe has overseen the examinations of more than 3,000 Faroe
Islanders for five studies of exposures to marine contaminants. He is also the
co-leader of one of URI’s STEEP research projects.
For more information about the STEEP program or the April 11
lecture, visit https://web.uri.edu/steep.
