Written by EA Crunden, Ariel Wittenberg | 12/10/2021 01:10 PM US Eastern Time

Laura C. Green, a toxicologist and former special employee of the EPA government, downplays the health risks of PFAS, often contradicting the agency's findings. Claudine Hellmuth/E&E News (illustration); Research Gate (compounds); Clean and Healthy New York and Environment Working Group (text); Satakorn/istock (turf photos); Cambridge Environmental Corporation (Laura Green); SnazzyMaps (maps)

A toxicologist touted her connection with the EPA, while advocating for the field of artificial turf and downplaying the impact of "permanent chemicals", she said she has stopped cooperating with the agency because a small town on Martha's Vineyard is considering These areas are completely banned.

These changes occurred after an article in E&E News this week questioned Laura C. Green's comments on perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (called PFAS), which are used to make artificial turf. Green served as a special government employee of the EPA and often cited her agency experience to support her claims on chemicals (Greenwire, December 8).

These assertions, including "there is no reliable evidence that PFAS endangers human health," run counter to the EPA's actions, and include the separate listing of a PFAS compound, PFOA, as a "probable carcinogen." The agency also targets a variety of compounds as drinking water advisories and regulations.

Now, Green tells the Nantucket news reporter that she has quit her job with the EPA, and Nantucket Public Schools also said it is reviewing contracts with toxicologists.

"Dr. Green's full contract is currently under review and there is no final decision yet," Elizabeth Hallett, the head of Nantucket Public Schools, wrote in an email. "We haven't had the opportunity to meet with the entire campus master planning committee, because these developments around Dr. Green have only occurred in the past 24 hours."

When asked whether Green had actually resigned, the EPA declined to comment. But in an email to an E&E reporter after the original article, Green said, "We learn more from mistakes than we learn from success."

She wrote: "As your career develops, I hope you understand the difference between news and publicity."

Before telling the Nantucket reporter that she would resign from the US Environmental Protection Agency, Green told the Martha's Vineyard Times that the issue of her institutional affiliation was "non-story." She also called the E&E News report "defamation propaganda," but said she did not intend to sue the media and did not explain the errors in the report.

"Look, I'm a 67-year-old grandmother. If you think I haven't heard all the nonsense that any child or grandson can throw at me, then you are not near the block," she told the newspaper.

Ayesha Khan is a full-time mother who opposes the lawn field because of concerns about PFAS. She said she hopes the Nantucket School Committee will soon terminate the contract with Green.

"We don't often see people being held accountable, and I hope this will shock a large group of people," she said. "This will have a trickle-down effect."

Many of Green’s misleading statements about PFAS were made when she encouraged New England towns like Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard to install artificial turf fields. Proponents believe that these areas will enhance students' athletic ability, but critics worry about the possibility of water pollution and chemical exposure.

Some PFAS are intentionally used to make artificial fields because well-known moisture-proof chemicals can prevent plastic grass blades from sticking to manufacturing equipment.

There are few studies on the health effects of specific perfluoro and polyfluoroalkyl substances (such as PVDF-HFP) used in synthetic turf. But Green often talks about PFAS in public meetings, claiming that no compounds have any health effects, although some compounds are related to testicular cancer, liver disease and weakened immune system.

For example, she argues that workers who make perfluoro and polyfluoroalkyl substances for companies such as DuPont and 3M “seem to be fine” and have not suffered any health effects from the chemicals, even though they “almost reached their level in these materials”. Elbows". In fact, surveys of workers in manufacturing plants exposed to certain PFAS have shown an increase in the incidence of liver damage and testicular cancer.

At the same time, the EPA is increasingly considering PFOA as a possible carcinogen and is seeking recommendations to reduce drinking water to reflect the growing evidence that the chemical poses a huge threat to human health.

On Martha’s Vineyard, the town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts (which has proposed an artificial turf field) is facing a severe blow. The town’s health committee has drafted a regulation banning the use of PFAS in artificial turf, and the new regulation will be discussed on Tuesday.

In a statement, members of the Field Fund, which supports organic cultivation of natural grasses, said that Martha’s Vineyard’s broader issues are “far from being resolved”.

“It’s not clear who introduced Dr. Green to our community, who has funded her as an expert witness for the plastic field proposed by Martha’s Vineyard Area High School in the past year, and how the school will now deal with the exposure of this information. ," the organization wrote via email.

At the same time, on Nantucket Island, this issue also mobilized local firefighters, who have invested in combating PFAS pollution due to the presence of chemicals in their voting equipment (Greenwire, February 17).

Robert Bates, a retired firefighter who has served for more than 30 years, said that Green’s remarks had previously aroused his suspicion.

"Anything she says will not conflict with the agency she says works for," he said, noting her relationship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Like other firefighters, he said he was familiar with the fight with artificial turf. Firefighters felt that they saw the same strategy used to minimize health risks and were upset that "industrial science" was being used to market products to the community. For them, voting devices and artificial turf reflect a broader story about PFAS and misinformation.

"For the company that was supposed to protect us with our equipment and other things, the company that caused us to get cancer is very worried," Bates said.

Nantucket resident Khan, his firefighter husband believed that his cancer was related to his PFAS exposure, and he agreed that this issue has become very personal for firefighters.

"This is the same company, the same strategy, and the same chemicals," Khan said.