Statement in Support of H.B. 236 ~ Creating a Statute of Limitation on Civil Actions Relative to Damage Caused by Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances.
February 16, 2021 New Hampshire House Judiciary Committee
by Diane Cotter
May our 20-plus-years in the ‘Greatest Deception Ever’ at the hands of our cancer summit sponsors and voting members of our safety standards institution, the National Fire Protection Association, serve as a horrific cautionary tale for anyone wishing and hoping corporations living in their community will do the right thing for their impacted communities.
The past weeks I have had the opportunity to speak with Congressional members from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to share the issue of PFAS within the fire service Many of these discussions took place with the efforts of the Honorable Wendy E.N. Thomas, fmr New Hampshire State Rep and Scott Faber, Sr VP of Governmental Affairs, Environmental Working Group.
Firefighting gear is complex, technical equipment that must meet NFPA (National Fire Protection Assn) standards and codes for structural firefighting. NFPA
Committee 1971 has 16 voting members made up of firefighters, manufacturers, special experts and IAFF and NFPA members.
Every purchase order written for turnout gear, and AFFF will require it ‘ meet or exceed NFPA standards’.
Herein lines the problem, DuPont, Gore, Honeywell, Lion, are all voting members of these committees.
Turnout gear is made up of 3 layers;
The ‘outer shell’ the material the public sees, is the most highly fluoirinated textile ever seen by science;
Graham Pealsee conducted our own independent study done on turnout gear. This study was orchestrated by a fire-wife and a group of firefighters from Salem Ma, Northern Cali, and Chicago.
We had no help from institutions, we had no prior skills, this was the first in the world study of chemicals used on the material of the gear. The safety institution NFPA had 20 years to do such a study. They never did. They and our IAFF only sought and supported studies on the products of combustion or toxic smoke, which was fed to them by the chemical industry itself.
And, they willingly went along.
While DuPont, Honeywell, and W.L. Gore knew of the health effects of PFOA and Teflon, they remained silent while voting on materials to be sued for gear. DuPont would go on record stating only Nomex should be used for outer shell material. A DuPont fiber.
The gear must pass a stringent water resistance test per NFPA 1971
Manufacturers argue only PFAS will meet this standard.
Our study, conducted by Dr Peaslee of Notre Dame found that 10 year old gear still had enough PFAS to meet NFPA 1971 for water resistance.
This causes us to be concerned that America’s Bravest have been used to support ‘shareholder value’ for DuPont. DuPont knew how much PFAS was going onto the coatings. There are no standards for limits.. only vague language that states ‘enough to meet the requirements’.
The inner component is called a ‘moisture barrier’ and not seen by the eye. It is made with a sheet of Teflon.
It is made by W.L. Gore. ~ In 2004 Gore was told by the United Steelworkers Union that they had a ‘duty to warn’ the end user of the product that the laborers of the Washington Works Plant in WV found PFOA to be causing health issues in the union members:
http://assets.usw.org/resources/hse/resources/Walking-the-Talk-Duponts-Untold-Safety-Failures.pdf
Gore and DuPont ignored the orders to warn the end users.
Instead, in 2006 Gore would write language for NFPA stating that the material needed for moisture barriers must withstand a ‘xenon light test’..
https://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/AboutTheCodes/1971/1971-A2006-ROP.pdf
…a test that only ‘Teflon’ material can meet.
The chemist Jeff Stull on the committee went on record stating the test was completely fallacious.
The standards was voted in by NFPA and firefighter have been wrapped in a Teflon burrito dipped in staggering amounts of PFOA and PFAS since.
The material closest to the firefighter’s skin is called the ‘thermal liner’.
Recently Lion Gear introduced a thermal liner that is coated in PFAS. Lion Gear carriers many DoD contracts for firefighting gear.
https://www.lionprotects.com/innovations-isodri
It is our hope that with the DoD language to phase out PFAS in products purchased by the DoD this language will force manufacturer to make safer gear for us. This would require ‘turnout gear’ or ‘personal protection ensambles’ be added to the list of DoD items to be PFAS-FREE.
Currently the director of industry relations of Johnson Controls — makers of AFFF has been named to two leadership positions within the NFPA.
He will ‘oversee code and development, administer rules and regulations, an support appeals process. He is a NFPA Research Foundation Board of Trustee, the ‘Independent foundation conducts research for the NFPA and entire fire protection industry’..
Sadly, Johnson Controls is being sued for poisoning the water in Wisconsin:
This is exactly why we need our legislators to hold the line for America’s Bravest, who trusted in their institutions like the NFPA, which has become a lobbying group for the chemical giants.
If this weren’t reason enough to support the passage of H.B.236 you should understand that just this week a study was published showing the PFAS Dust in 15 Massachusetts firehouses staggering in number, and the PFAS in the dust matches the PFAS in the turnout-gear firefighters wear. The study was conducted by Dr Graham Peaslee of Notre Dame and Dr’s Anna Young, Joseph Allen, and Emily Sparer Fine of Harvard. The happenstance of the PFAS portion of the dust study was serendipity. It was again, not initiated by the hands of our gear made by fibers and coatings from DuPont and others. The PFAS was not from the AFFF. It’s from the gear. Who will pay to make these firefighters whole from the cancers they may be getting from their turnout gear? Cities? Towns?
We ask for the passage of HB 236 to hold open the door for those who like us, had to find our own scientists who would discover how long they have been lied to by omission.
Sincerely,
Diane Cotter
Rindge, NH 03461