Authorities in the U.S. warn that ‘forever chemicals’ (PFOS and PFOA) detected in Australian tap water pose a cancer risk, but Australia may not be addressing the issue seriously enough.

Here’s the response from a spokesperson for the Health Minister:

Australian drinking water is regularly monitored for the presence of chemicals, including PFAS, to ensure those are within the limits assessed as safe by Australian regulators.

The National Health and Medical Research Council develops the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines to provide guidance to water regulators and suppliers on monitoring and managing drinking water quality.

The NHMRC is currently conducting an independent review of the Australian health-based values for PFAS in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

This includes the health-based guidance values for PFAS chemicals: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS).

This independent review will consider recent guidance and reviews from international and national jurisdictions and determine whether they are suitable to adopt or adapt for Australia.

The review is currently scheduled to be completed in 2025 and will include public consultation.

Minister Butler has asked the Chief Medical Officer and the CEO of the NHMRC to urgently provide him with advice on the US developments, and the potential to expedite the NHMRC review already underway.

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