Instead, it may be poisoning them.
“It scares us,“ said Sasha, a 38-year-old dispatcher whose husband drives long hauls across the country. She’s worried about their five children, two-year-old granddaughter, and a grandson due in October.
Developed in the 1940s, they’re still used in nonstick pans, firefighting foams and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers.
‘Carpet capital of world’
They’re accused of spewing the chemicals into the air, flushing them into sewers unequipped to remove them, and indirectly contaminating farmland through sludge byproducts later spread as fertilizer.
Mohawk, Shaw, and chemical giant 3M declined to comment on the complaint. Chemical maker Chemours, another chemical maker and defendant, says it has no factories in Georgia and denies culpability.
The Biden administration last year enacted the first enforceable national drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals.
Test cases
Sasha, who moved to the property after marrying Jamie in 2020, soon developed two autoimmune conditions, as well as high blood pressure and chronic fatigue.
Her grown children also report various ailments -- and some goat kids didn’t survive their birth defects.
So far, his firm has filed suits for 18 lead plaintiffs.
Entering the food web
“We’ve got springs emitting into ponds that are discharging to creeks at over 180,000 parts per trillion,“ he said. The national guideline for drinking water is just four parts per trillion, and local creeks are often seen frothing with pollution.
The carpet makers are the area’s main economic lifeline, yet many are now turning against them.
“We helped them build their business and make all that money,“ said her son, David Wray, 40. “It’s just cruel.”
Others share similar grief.
Studies have linked PFAS to elevated colon cancer rates, the disease that killed her brother and husband. She and her 81-year-old mother both suffer severe thyroid problems and have had hysterectomies.
Greg and Sharon Eads hoped to retire on farmland they bought in 2019, but it has since tested hot for PFAS, unraveling their dream.
It’s become “basically a petting zoo,“ said Greg. “I can’t do anything with them, not in good conscience.”
During a recent visit, the couple led AFP through bucolic pastures where the herd huddled around a healthy newborn calf -- a welcome moment of hope after several others were lost to deformities.
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