June 5, 2020. Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, featured Professor Steve Gold’s article, “Filling gaps in science exposes gaps in chemical regulation,” co-authored with Wendy E. Wagner of the University of Texas. The article builds off a study in the same issue that reported finding unexpected contaminants in soil samples downwind from a chemical plant in New Jersey. These contaminants were developed as replacements for Perfluorononanoic Acid (PFNA), a chemical very similar to the toxic contaminant featured in the film Dark Waters. Gold and Wagner describe gaps in chemical regulation that allowed these replacement chemicals to be dispersed in the environment even though almost no information is available to the public about whether these compounds might be toxic.
The Gold and Wagner article is available here: 1066.full.