On June 20, the Trump administration released a report some officials hoped would never see the light of day. The draft study from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that contaminated water across the country, especially on and near military bases, was far more toxic than the government realized. That meant potentially millions of Americans had been drinking water with unsafe levels of perfluoroalkyls, or PFAS, which can cause cancer and liver disease, disrupt hormone levels, and complicate pregnancies. Potentially millions drink that water today.
The government's dire findings explained why political aides to Scott Pruitt, at the time the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, had suppressed the report for months, fearing what one called a “public relations nightmare.” But nearly one month after the study's release, alleged victims of PFAS contamination don't think that nightmare has come true—at least not in the way they'd hoped.
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