Photo from Patricia Timmons-Goodson for Congress.
This past week, the team working to elect proenvironment candidates in North Carolina held an important roundtable discussion on PFAS, featuring Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz, North Carolina Eighth Congressional District candidate Pat Timmons-Goodson, North Carolina state senator Kirk deViere (D), Clean Cape Fear Cofounder Emily Donovan, advocate and adjunct law professor on chemical safety issues Scott Faber, and advocate and Army veteran Mark Favors.
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals are estimated to be in the drinking water of more than 200 million Americans. These chemicals are linked to serious health risks once they build up over time inside our bodies causing contamination. According to research done by the Environmental Working Group, PFAS chemicals are found in 99 percent of Americans. These pollutants pose a threat both to our environment and to our personal health and safety.
The Sierra Club’s Victory Corps organizers have shown up in large numbers to support candidates who are ready to safeguard communities from harmful chemicals like PFAS. Congressional candidate Timmons-Goodson has stood firm on strong safeguards that protect our environment and health. Timmons-Goodson's past work as vice-chairwoman of the US Commission on Civil Rights, where she held corporations accountable for coal ash pollution in North Carolina communities, demonstrates her longstanding commitment to environmental protections. During the roundtable, Timmons-Goodson said that “the cost of inaction on this issue is the needless loss of life. We need an advocate at the federal level.”
Throughout the event, we heard how individuals and families have been affected by these toxic chemicals. Army veteran Mark Favors, who testified before Congress on the harmful effects of PFAS pollution in drinking water, shared that five of his family members, who resided in the Ohio Valley, were diagnosed with or passed away from kidney cancer. Surveys within the Ohio Valley area illustrate that there is a clear link between PFAS-contaminated drinking water and kidney cancer. Favors is working hard to make sure that other American families don’t have to suffer the same harms that his family has.
Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz underscored that, with less than two weeks left until the election, it is important to remember that the stakes for the environment and for communities suffering the worst consequences of toxic pollution have never been higher. Similar events discussing environmental degradation and championing candidates like Timmons-Goodson are being held throughout the country by the Sierra Club’s Victory Corps organizers in partnership with endorsed candidates.
We can change the current tide by electing environmental champions to Congress who will protect our health.
The time to take action is now.
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Paid for by Sierra Club Political Committee, www.sierraclub.org, and authorized by Patricia Timmons-Goodson for Congress. |