Slide 1
Energy and Environmental Law Section New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting
31 January 2020
Legacy Contaminants of
Emergent Concern
Bob Michaels RAM TRAC Corporation Schenectady, NY ram@ramtrac.com
Slide 2
Legacy contaminants of emerging concern: Pb, PFAs
PFOA
--8 Carbon atoms (C)
--3 Fluorine (F) on C1
--2 F on C2-C7
--O=C-OH on C8
PFOS
--8 Carbon atoms (C)
--3 Fluorine (F) on C1
--2 F on C2-C7
--O=S=O –OH on C8
GenX compounds
Slide 3
1. environmental justice, 2. need for international
agreements, 3. conflict between protecting science vs. public health.
… together illustrating three emerging issues:
Slide 4
Environmental Justice
’social determinants of health’
Pb: --Flint, Michigan --Newark, New Jersey PFAs: --Hoosick Falls, New York PFOA, PFOS
--Cape Fear, North Carolina GenX compounds
Slide 5
Need for international agreements duPont spinoff: Chemours plant, Changshu, China*
Slide 6
Agreements needed on globe-trotting contaminants
--PFAs: manufacture phased out in US:
“[China] now makes somewhere between 64 and
292 tons of PFOA per year, most of which
is released directly into the water and air.
Total PFOA emissions in China may be as high
as 168 tons per year, according to one recent estimate…
…China also produces between 110 and 220 tons of PFOS per year, more than any other country” (Lerner 2016)
--China exports PFOA: 50 percent
to Europe, Japan, and Brazil
Slide 7
Conflict Between Protecting Science vs Public Health Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, Village of Hoosick Falls
Slide 8
NYS DOH cancer cluster study in Hoosick Falls
--Found no cancer clusters related to PFOA --Numerous study design issues --NOT DESIGNED EFFECTIVELY TO FIND CLUSTERS
…tyranny of the p value
…type 1 vs. type 2 error in statistics
Slide 9
Robert A. Michaels, PhD, CEP RAM TRAC Corporation 3100 Rosendale Road Schenectady, NY 12309 (518) 785-0976 ram@ramtrac.com
Publication citation
Michaels, RA. Legacy contaminants of emergent concern. Conference presentation: Energy and Environmental Law Section, New York State Bar Association, Annual Meeting, New York City, 31 January 2020;