— For America's firefighters, the irony is jarring. Chemical foam that they've sprayed on fires for decades to protect others was a hidden threat to them.
The foam concentrate comes in five-gallon buckets, laced with polyfluoroalkyl substances — also called PFAS — which are man-made chemicals that are water-repellent, virtually indestructible and dangerous if inhaled or absorbed into the body. The Environmental Protection Agency limits the safe threshold for exposure to two of the most common PFAS to nearly zero, or less than one part per trillion.
In its first commercial application, Battelle's technology uses a process called supercritical water oxidation, which involves heat, pressure and an oxidant to remove the threat in the PFAS carbon-fluorine bond. Waxhaw's crews are also testing"clean" firefighting foam, made of organics. GreenFire, the manufacturer, says it's non-toxic and PFAS-free.
Wait wait so something that was deemed safe is now known not to be safe? Where could this also possibly apply?