When EPA awarded researchers a $1.6 million grant in 2020 to study “forever chemicals” in rural communities, the agency described the work as a top priority.
But three months ago, the research team was ordered to abruptly wrap up their project. In contrast to EPA’s support during the first Trump administration, the current administration defunded the research because it no longer advanced “program goals or agency priorities.”
The decision didn’t surprise Heather Preisendanz, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Penn State University who was using a portion of the funds to track forever chemicals in well water.
But she worries it’s part of a pattern of EPA walking away from science-based research on the synthetic chemicals, which taint the tap water of over 45 percent of Americans and are linked to higher rates of cancer, weaker immune systems and other serious health problems.
