PRESS RELEASE
ATSDR ASKED TO PURSUE NATIONAL HEALTH STUDIES AND TESTING FOR
PFAS CHEMICAL EXPOSURES AMONG US EMERGENCY RESPONDERS AND
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WITH PFAS IN THEIR DRINKING WATER

CINCINNATI, OHIO (September 5, 2017?): Today a medical doctor who helped lead a
landmark human health study of tens of thousands of people exposed to the toxic,
highly- fluorinated chemical, PFOA, and a career firefighter exposed on the job to a
range of such fluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS, sent letters urging the federal
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to initiate nationwide health studies
and testing of those exposed to PFAS chemicals in their drinking water and among our
nation?s emergency responders.

Dr. A. Paul Brooks, Jr., who led the ground?breaking 08 Health Project that
collected blood and health data from approximately 69,000 people exposed to PFOA in
their drinking water in West Virginia and Ohio, and was used by the independent 08
Science Panel to already confirm links between PFOA exposure and six serious
diseases, called upon ATSDR to conduct a national health study and testing among the
. millions of Americans across the country who are now learning that they have been
exposed to a broader range of PFAS chemicals in their drinking water:

"?In order to protect the public health, is critically important for ATSDR to move
fonNard as soon as possible with work to assess the health impacts of this ever?
expanding mix of PFAS chemicals in drinking water across our country, and I hope to
have the opportunity to work with the Agency to help shape such a national program,

using our earlier C8 Health Project work on PFOA as a model.?

Jeffrey Hermes, a prostate cancer survivor and fire fighter [paramedic in Northern
Kentucky with decades of combined service in the US military and local emergency
response organizations, is calling on ATSDR to conduct a nationwide study and testing
of the thousands of firefighters and emergency response personnel across the country
who also were unwittingly exposed to these PFAS materials while working to protect the
lives of others:

?My brothers and sisters in our country?s firefighting and emergency response
community, particularly those of us now battling or having survived cancer, deserve to
know.whether the equipment we relied upon every day the firefighting foams and our
protective clothing and gear actually exposed us to unsafe levels of these toxic PFAS
chemicals or increased our risk of contracting a serious illness of disease.?

Dr. Brooks? and Mr. Hermes? lawyer, Rob Bilott, a partner with the law firm of Taft
Stettinius Hollister LLP, sent. the letters to ATSDR asking the agency to use its special
powers under federal law to pursue these national studies and testing:

is uniquely empowered under federal law to pursue these national
PFAS health studies and testing, and may be one of the only entities that have the
ability to secure the funding necessary to get this important work accomplished,
regardless of who is responsible.?

Although the letters sent to ATSDR also notify the Agency that citizens? suit
claims could be brought in federal court to require the work, if the Agency does not fully
address the matter in the near future, it is hoped that no such legal action will actually

be necessary:

?We stand ready to work with and assist the Agency, right now, to come up with a
plan to design, fund, and implement the type of national health studies and testing that
will answer the question millions of people across the country want answered: What will

exposure to this increasing mix of PFAS materials do to me and my family??