Vermont is a rural state renowned for its well preserved nature, but "forever chemicals" have reached even here. Polyfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS or forever chemicals come from everyday products like plastics, cookware, and stain resistant fabrics. These chemicals can remain in soil, water, and tissue and have been linked to multiple types of cancer. Exposure to them, especially for young people, is of growing concern as we realize the extent of PFAS pollution.
Bennington was an industrial town in Southern Vermont, most factories have left, but the extent of PFAS pollution is just being uncovered. A ChemFab factory, owned by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, that produced teflon covered fabrics in Bennington closed decades ago but recent government testing found a type of PFAS used at the factory in some residents drinking water. Since Vermont is rural, many people use well systems rather than town water. Bennington's public water supply is not contaminated with PFAS, but waste from the factory has leached into the soil and contaminated private wells.
Students at Bennington College have been studying potential factors impacting the severity of contamination including slope and distance from the former factory site to the property, and wind patterns. Their research has also unfortunately found that despite the factory no longer producing new materials, the concentration of PFAS in private wells is actually increasing rather than decreasing. This is likely because PFAS are continually leaching through the soil into the groundwater.
In Minnesota a teenage girl with a rare form of liver cancer, believed to be caused by PFAS contamination of her drinking water, spoke before legislators as they concerned a bill banning PFAS. Her honest testimony about the pain her illness caused moved people, and although she tragically passed away in April 2023, Minnesota instated the strongest ban on PFAS in the United States.