LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Senator Gary Peters has announced a $1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to conduct a study on PFAS in Western Michigan.
The grant will be awarded to the Michigan State Department of Health and Human Services to research sites in Parchment/Cooper Township and North Kent County.
The study is meant to better understand what illnesses PFAS cause in humans, as well as to create better public awareness of what those health effects may be.
“We know it’s bad, we know it’s cancer-causing, but the range of our knowledge is fairly limited,” Peters said. “It’s important to remember that PFAS is actually a class of chemicals. You’re talking about 3500 different types of PFAS chemicals. Our knowledge of all those chemicals and what they do to us is fairly limited, and that has to change.”
Peters had previously written a letter to the CDC in support of the funding last April.
“Communities in West Michigan have been devastated by PFAS contamination, and that’s why I worked to support our state’s effort to secure this federal grant to fully understand the health impacts of PFAS,” Peters said. “I will continue working in a bipartisan manner to ensure that this crisis is addressed.”
Local officials are excited to receive the grant money.
“Since the City of Parchment and Cooper Township were ‘ground zero’ for PFAS contamination last year, I am thrilled two municipalities in Kalamazoo County have been awarded much needed funds to assess exposure to our residents,” Kalamazoo County Board Chair Julie Rogers said. “The health and safety of our residents is very important.”
According to an official press release, The joint CDC-ATSDR study will enroll approximately 6,000 adults and 2,000 children in seven different sites across the nation to help PFAS-affected communities assess their risk to certain health effects, specifically lipid metabolism, kidney function, thyroid disease, and weaker immune response.
The press release adds that the research at each site will investigate the health outcomes among the test subjects who are most-at risk to PFAS contaminated drinking water.
Peters is also supporting legislation that would require the EPA to issue drinking water standards for PFAS within two years.
