Nantucket PFAS Action Group

📣 PFAS and Our Health: The Impact of “Forever Chemicals” Across Different Seasons of Life
📅 Today- Thursday, December 11, 2025 | 🕠 5:30 PM

We hope you can attend this community event TONIGHT with Dr. Tamarra James-Todd of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a leading national expert on PFAS and environmental reproductive health.

🎟 Attend:
📍 In Person: PSF Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
💻 Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qp-zJzOWRsq6sKly0uZ54A
▶️ YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/QSWJ8eCFZhc

Dr. Tamarra James-Todd, Professor of Environmental Reproductive Epidemiology at Harvard Chan, leads the Environmental Reproductive Justice Lab studying how PFAS and other consumer chemicals affect reproductive and cardiometabolic health—especially in marginalized communities. She plays key roles in major NIH/CDC PFAS studies and served on the National Academies committee on PFAS testing. Her work has been featured in outlets like NYT Magazine. She holds degrees from Vanderbilt (BS), BU (MPH), and Columbia (PhD).

Join us at the PSF Community Room on December 11, or online: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Qp-zJzOWRsq6sKly0uZ54A

We are BIG fans of Dr. Schaider from Silent Spring Institute! Looking forward to this.

👉Monday, November 17, 2025, at 5:30 PM
Topic: Everyday Exposures to PFAS and What You Can Do to Avoid Them

Presenter: Dr. Laurel Schaider, Senior Scientist, Silent Spring Institute
 
• In person: PSF Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
• Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HLHwsHQHR5OMTjbCXHgDuA  
• YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/h6ULgsN063g

✨Dr. Schaider is a leading researcher on PFAS exposure and health impacts. She leads the Massachusetts PFAS and Your Health Study, part of a national CDC-funded initiative. Her work has been featured by NPR, The Washington Post, and other major outlets, and she testified before a Senate subcommittee in 2024.

They said a PFAS ban was impossible—until Amara spoke.

At just 20 years old, Amara Strande stood before lawmakers, weak from cancer linked to PFAS-contaminated water, and told the truth. Two days before her 21st birthday, she passed away. A month later, Minnesota passed Amara’s Law—the strongest PFAS ban in the country.

Her story is part of a nationwide movement led not by politicians—but by everyday people. Firefighters, parents, farmers, and veterans are pushing back against PFAS- including Nantucket.

Read the full story here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/opinion/forever-chemicals-pfas-pfoa.html

Julian Cyr U.S. Representative Bill Keating U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren Governor Maura Healey Town of Nantucket Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) Nantucket Fire Department Nantucket Atheneum Mariah Blake The New York Times The Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror Nantucket Current

Opinion | This Is How to Win an Environmental Fight Thousands of ordinary Americans whose lives have been upended by forever chemicals are battling to end their use.

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the residents of Toms Way for their courage in speaking up and sharing their story. Your voices have brought vital attention to the dangers of PFAS.

The story of Toms Way is a powerful reminder of what can happen when chemicals like PFAS are introduced into our environment, they don’t leave—they stay with us, affecting our health and future generations. This could happen in any town. Toms Way reminds us of the power of awareness and action and demonstrates the strength of communities coming together. By embracing safer alternatives and stopping the on going use and production of the many PFAS chemicals , we hope we can prevent future harm and what happened.

Rep Kate Hogan Julian Cyr Maura Healey Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) National PFAS Contamination Coalition News & Update Page Silent Spring Institute Clean Water Action Massachusetts The Boston Globe Nantucket Footprints

Residents of Toms Way, a small nook of a street not far from downtown Nantucket, learned that many of their wells had high levels of PFAS, a group of compounds known as “forever chemicals” that can leach into water systems and cause health problems, including cancer, liver damage, and thyroid disease.

On Sunday, four households filed a class action suit against the manufacturers of the chemicals. https://trib.al/JLeCsZP

🚒 **Big Moves for Firefighter Safety!** 🎉

In an inspiring move, one city has decided to eliminate PFAS from their firefighters' gear. This decision is a response to the alarming link between PFAS and certain health effects and cancers. This proactive step sets an important precedent for safety and health in firefighting communities across the nation. Cheers to making changes that really matter! 🎉

👉 Check out all the details here: [Read the full story](https://www.hcn.org/articles/cancer-is-killing-firefighters-so-this-city-is-going-pfas-free) San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation International Association of Fire Fighters Neil McMillan National PFAS Contamination Coalition Grassroots Team Julian Cyr Rep Kate Hogan Maura Healey Nantucket Fire Department Town of Nantucket Toxics Use Reduction Institute

Cancer is killing firefighters. So this city is going PFAS-free. - High Country News San Francisco is the first major American city to ban the substance from protective gear.

🚨 ** **3M Gaslights Scientists About PFAS Dangers**** 🚨

A ProPublica investigation uncovers how 3M executives misled scientists about the safety of PFAS chemicals found in human blood. Kris Hansen discovered these harmful chemicals, which are linked to various health issues, in 1997. Despite her findings, 3M downplayed the risks and continued producing these chemicals.
The 3M cover-ups continue to come to light.

🔗 Full story: [ProPublica](https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story)

International Association of Fire Fighters Rep Kate Hogan Senator Edward J. Markey Bill Keating Julian Cyr Maura Healey Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM) ProPublica National PFAS Contamination Coalition News & Update Page

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.

Via Clean Water Action Massachusetts
Bloomberg Originals Silent Spring Institute PEER University of Notre Dame Julian Cyr Maura Healey

Worried about toxic in drinking water? Us too!
YOU ARE INVITED to a free virtual movie screening and discussion on April 30th at 7:30pm! Come learn more about the threat of PFAS and what you can do to help!
RSVP for the Zoom link: https://cleanwater.org/events/ma-pfas-movie-screening

Via Clean Cape Fear:

Testing for Pease EPA Water

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Critical Action to Protect 100 Million People from PFAS Pollution in Drinking Water | CEQ | The White House Last week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the first-ever national drinking water standard to protect communities from exposure to harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals,’ as well as $1 billion through President Biden’s Investing in Americ...