Hazard NJ Podcast - Tainted Blood

“Forever chemicals” have been so widely used, for so many purposes, for so many decades, that they are now in all of our blood. But what does that mean for our health? A team of Rutgers University researchers is trying to help answer that question by studying the blood of residents in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where a high-profile pollution incident left the town’s water supply contaminated for years.

Editor's Note: "Hazard NJ" is an NJ Spotlight News podcast that examines serious pollution issues. Season 2 dives deep into the crisis of toxic pollution caused by PFAS, or "forever chemicals," around New Jersey and beyond. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

Read the episode transcript below:

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**YOU CAN'T SEE IT...

...SMELL IT...

...OR TASTE IT.

BUT IT'S INSIDE NEARLY ALL OF US.

PFAS ARE THE FOREVER CHEMICALS THAT LURK IN OUR BLOOD. HOW THEY GOT THERE... WELL... IN THIS HORROR STORY... THE EVIL LIES IN OUR TAP WATER.

THIS IS HAZARD NJ... A LIMITED SERIES THAT SERVES UP THE TOXIC TRUTH ABOUT PFAS IN NEW JERSEY'S WATER... ONE GLASS AT A TIME.

ON THIS EPISODE... WE LOOK TO ONE NEW JERSEY TOWN'S POLLUTED PAST TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ITS MURKY FUTURE.

I'M JORDAN GASS-POORÉ... AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST FROM TEXAS.

THE FIRST RATED R MOVIE I EVER SAW IN THEATERS WAS ERIN BROCKOVICH. FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE MOVIE... IT'S BASED ON A TRUE STORY... ABOUT A WOMAN IN THE '90S WHO DROPS A LOT OF F-BOMBS AND HELPS INVESTIGATE WATER CONTAMINATION IN A SMALL CALIFORNIA TOWN.

I'M SURE I'M NOT THE ONLY MILLENNIAL CLIMATE JOURNALIST WHO CITES THIS MOVIE... AND THE REAL-LIFE ERIN BROCKOVICH... AS A REASON FOR GETTING INTO THIS BEAT.

NOW... ERIN BROCKOVICH IS SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT PFAS. AND I AM TOO.

THIS EPISODE HAS PARALLELS TO THAT CASE IN CALIFORNIA. IT'S ABOUT A SMALL TOWN WHOSE WATER WAS CONTAMINATED BY A BIG COMPANY. BUT THERE'S UNIQUE TWISTS AND TURNS.

WELCOME TO PAULSBORO, NEW JERSEY... WHERE PFAS HAS SEEPED INTO THE LIVES OF THE TOWN'S RESIDENTS.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**I never trust the water. I don't recommend it for folks.

**Carmen Costa -- Former Paulsboro resident
**You're consuming this stuff. And it was always something in the back of your mind. And then people who weren't from town who would come to town, they'd be like, 'What is that smell?' And it was always, like, 'Welcome to Paulsboro.' And for a while, it was kind of a joke: That's why our athletes were so good, because of the water and the smog.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER IN PAULSBORO... SAYS MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE.

NO ONE KNOWS WHEN IT STARTED.

BUT IT WAS FIRST FOUND IN A PUBLIC WATER WELL IN 2009. AND REMAINED THERE FOUR YEARS LATER.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE STUFF OF LEGEND... A CAMPFIRE TALE.

AND I WISH IT WAS.

PFNA... A COMMON PFAS CHEMICAL... DOESN'T QUITE HAVE THE SAME RING TO IT AS SAY JASON OR MICHAEL MYERS... BUT THE NAME STILL STRIKES FEAR IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THE CHEMICAL HIDES.

PAULSBORO IS A SMALL INDUSTRIAL TOWN ON THE BANKS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER.

BEFORE 2013... THE TOWN WAS KNOWN FOR THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL'S POWERHOUSE WRESTLING TEAM... A SPRAWLING REFINERY... ITS LIGHTHOUSE AND BEING FEATURED IN KEVIN SMITH'S MOVIE... JERSEY GIRL.

BUT FOR DECADES THE CHEMICAL PERFLUORONONANOIC ACID... A MEMBER OF THE PFAS FAMILY... KNOWN SIMPLY AS PFNA... HAD UNKNOWINGLY BEEN TAINTING PAULSBORO'S WATER.

PFNA WAS DISCOVERED AT HIGH LEVELS IN PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SOURCES AROUND NEW JERSEY BY STATE RESEARCHERS IN 2009... BUT THE STUDY WAS NOT MADE PUBLIC UNTIL FIVE YEARS LATER.

AT THAT TIME... THERE WEREN'T STANDARDS FOR PFNA OR ANY OTHER PFAS CHEMICALS IN GROUNDWATER... OR DRINKING WATER. SO... THE CHEMICAL REMAINED THERE FOR YEARS.

ACTIVISTS FROM THE DELAWARE RIVERKEEPER NETWORK KNEW A STUDY HAD BEEN DONE... BUT HAD TO FIGHT WITH STATE AUTHORITIES TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC RECORDS WITH THE RESULTS.

EVENTUALLY IN 2013 THE ACTIVISTS GOT A HOLD OF THE STATE'S DATA... AND FOUND THAT PAULSBORO WAS ONE OF 22 WATER SYSTEMS IN NEW JERSEY THAT HAD ITS SOURCE TAINTED BY PFAS.

**Christie Duffy -- NJTV News
**The chemical is a perfluorinated compound known as PFNA. It's potentially dangerous and it's not regulated. DEP findings point to this plastics company as a probable source.

STATE OFFICIALS WOULD LATER SAY THAT THE LEVELS OF PFNA FOUND IN PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER SYSTEM WERE THE HIGHEST EVER DETECTED IN DRINKING WATER... ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

AS THE SCOPE OF THE POLLUTION BECAME CLEAR... THE STATE BEGAN PAYING TO INSTALL FILTERS ON PRIVATE WELLS THROUGHOUT THE AREA.

BUT PAULSBORO'S WATER UTILITY HAD A UNIQUE PROBLEM.

THE WATER SYSTEM WAS SUPPLIED BY THREE WELLS... AND WHEN NEWS OF THE CONTAMINATION BROKE... TWO OF THOSE WELLS WERE ALREADY OFFLINE BECAUSE THEY WERE BEING UPGRADED TO DEAL WITH A NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIUM PROBLEM.

THAT LEFT ONE WELL SUPPLYING THE ENTIRE PAULSBORO SYSTEM... AND THAT WELL WAS THE ONE MOST AFFECTED BY THE PFNA POLLUTION. IT WOULD BE MONTHS BEFORE THE BOROUGH WAS ABLE TO SHUT THAT WELL DOWN AND SWITCH TO THE OTHER TWO.

IN THE MEANTIME... PAULSBORO RESIDENTS WERE URGED TO AVOID DRINKING THEIR TAP WATER... AND STATE AUTHORITIES WARNED THAT CHILDREN UNDER ONE YEAR OLD WERE PARTICULARLY AT RISK. THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE HANDED OUT BOTTLED WATER.

NEWS ABOUT THE CONTAMINATION IMMEDIATELY SPARKED CONCERN IN PAULSBORO AND SURROUNDING TOWNS. WHEN THEN-GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE VISITED THE AREA TO TOUT NEW INVESTMENT IN THE PORT OF PAULSBORO... A PAIR OF LOCAL PROTESTORS AND THEIR CHILDREN WERE WAITING FOR HIM WITH PITCHERS OF TAP WATER AND PAPER CUPS.

THEY WANTED TO OFFER CHRISTIE A DRINK.

ALIYAH JONES...ONE OF THE PROTESTORS... TOLD THE SOUTH JERSEY TIMES THAT DAY QUOTE... IF HE DRINKS IT... I'LL DRINK IT.

POLICE REMOVED THE PROTESTORS FROM THE EVENT MINUTES BEFORE CHRISTIE ARRIVED. HE DID NOT DRINK THE WATER.

FILTERS WERE EVENTUALLY INSTALLED IN THE PROBLEM WELL TO REMOVE THE PFNA... AND THE WELL REOPENED IN 2016.

**Dr. Robert Laumbach -- Associate Professor, Rutgers University Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
**Since then, the water has been treated and it's tested and PFAS levels are within standards. They're below detectable levels. But there's concern that because PFAS stay in the body for a long period of time and has long-term health effects potentially.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S DOCTOR ROBERT LAUMBACH. HE'S AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY WHO IS LEADING A STUDY IN PAULSBORO INTO THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM PFAS EXPOSURE.

AN EARLIER STUDY CONDUCTED IN 2017 BY LAUMBACH AND OTHER RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT OUT OF THE 186 PAULSBORO RESIDENTS THAT VOLUNTEERED TO SHARE THEIR PFAS RESULTS... ALL OF THEM HAD PFNA IN THEIR BLOOD AT LEVELS ABOUT FOUR TIMES HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL RATE.

THE RESEARCHERS ALSO FOUND THAT EXPOSURE TO PFNA WAS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH CHOLESTEROL.

LAUMBACH SAYS THE 2017 RESEARCH MADE CLEAR THAT MORE STUDIES ARE NEEDED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS OF PFNA AND OTHER PFAS.

**Dr. Robert Laumbach -- Associate Professor, Rutgers University Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
**So, certainly the cholesterol connection. But then also reproductive effects, thyroid conditions, other hormonal conditions, other health conditions, cardiovascular pulmonary. Essentially, just about any organ system, and there have been reports in the literature, especially among animal studies where most of the work has been done showing that there are a lot of associations with a lot of different health effects.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PFNA HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE TAP WATER OF AT LEAST 13 STATES... . THE KICKER IS THAT UNLIKE OTHER PFAS CHEMICALS... PFNA ISN'T AS COMMONLY USED IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS. BUT IT DOES HAVE OTHER USES.

ABOUT A TEN-MINUTE DRIVE FROM PAULSBORO IS THE TOWN OF WEST DEPTFORD... HOME TO A PLASTICS FACTORY OWNED AND OPERATED BY SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMERS.

THE COMPANY WAS A SUBSIDIARY OF THE BELGIUM-BASED CHEMICAL GIANT SOLVAY UNTIL LATE LAST YEAR... WHEN SOLVAY CREATED A SPIN-OFF COMPANY CALLED SYENSQO... ALSO BASED IN BELGIUM.

**Geoff Pass -- Former site manager, Solvay Specialty Polymers
**First, let me tell you a little bit about what we do here at Solvay, we manufacture plastics. Not just any plastics, but high-tech plastics made predominately from fluorine chemistry. And what's special about fluorine chemistry is that it's very durable, very reliable. So, it's used a lot in applications that require long durability, resistance to chemicals from the environment, resistance to sunlight. Resistance to heat. So, a lot of what we manufacture for goes into automotive applications, construction, architectural coatings. It goes into alternative energies, such as solar panels. So, we manufacture into a lot of different industries from this plant.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT WAS GEOFF PASS... THE FORMER SITE MANAGER OF THE SOLVAY PLANT IN WEST DEPTFORD... TALKING TO "EYE ON PAULSBORO" IN 2014. WHEN PASS SAID SOLVAY USED "FLUORINE CHEMISTRY" ... HE WAS TALKING ABOUT PFAS CHEMICALS LIKE PFNA. SOLVAY USED TO USE PFNA TO MAKE SPECIALTY PLASTICS... AND TODAY PFNA HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE GROUNDWATER NEAR THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT. ABOUT 50 PRIVATE WELLS IN THAT TOWN WERE ALSO FOUND TO HAVE HIGH PFAS LEVELS.

**Geoff Pass -- Former site manager, Solvay Specialty Polymers
**It is important for me to say that certainly our action is not an admission of fault or liability, but rather motivated from our values. So, it's important that we say that, thank you.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**STATE OFFICIALS BLAME THE TOWN'S PFAS PROBLEMS ON SOLVAY.

THEY SUED THE COMPANY IN 2020... ACCUSING SOLVAY OF EMITTING OLD AND NEW PFAS CHEMICALS INTO THE ENVIRONMENT FROM ITS WEST DEPTFORD PLANT.

THE STATE ALSO NAMED ARKEMA IN THAT LAWSUIT. ARKEMA IS THE CHEMICAL COMPANY THAT OWNED THE PLANT BEFORE SOLVAY AND HAD ITS OWN HISTORY OF PFAS USE.

SOLVAY EVENTUALLY AGREED TO PAY THE STATE NEARLY $393 MILLION TO CLEAN UP CURRENT AND FUTURE PFAS CONTAMINATION FROM ITS WEST DEPTFORD PLANT AS PART OF A SETTLEMENT APPROVED IN STATE COURT EARLIER THIS YEAR. THE STATE HAS PROPOSED A SEPARATE SETTLEMENT WITH ARKEMA FOR ROUGHLY $34 MILLION. THAT DEAL STILL NEEDS COURT APPROVAL.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**What we're here today to mark, is our taking the next steps in implementing the settlement that has been achieved with this facility.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S SHAWN LATOURETTE... NEW JERSEY'S COMMISSIONER OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. HE'S SPEAKING AT AN INFORMATION SESSION ON THE SOLVAY SETTLEMENT THE DEP HOSTED IN NOVEMBER IN WEST DEPTFORD.

NO ONE FROM SOLVAY ATTENDED THIS COMMUNITY MEETING. BUT THE DEP SAID THE COMPANY MAY HOST THEIR OWN MEETING IN JANUARY.

ABOUT $100 MILLION OF THE SETTLEMENT MONEY WILL COVER THE COSTS OF FILTERING PFAS FROM LOCAL WATER SYSTEMS WHERE IT'S BEEN DETECTED AND TESTING OTHERS. THIS INCLUDES REIMBURSING HOMEOWNERS FOR OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES RELATED TO THE CONTAMINATION.

HERE'S LATOURETTE AGAIN.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**What we have before us now is a process for implementing the settlement that has been achieved, that they clean up their contamination in a timely manner pursuant to the directions of the DEP, and that they provide resources that will be used to help the residents of the communities that have been harmed by their actions. Particularly in ensuring access to funding for our water providers.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT MOST OF THE MONEY... AN ESTIMATED $214 MILLION... WILL BE SPENT ON REMOVING PFAS POLLUTION FROM FACTORY SITES AND SURROUNDING PARTS OF WEST DEPTFORD. LATOURETTE ACKNOWLEDGED THIS COST COULD EVENTUALLY BE MUCH HIGHER THAN THE FUNDS AGREED TO IN THE SETTLEMENT.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**It is not uncommon to begin a cleanup and to find out that that contamination incident has tentacles that spread a little further than you originally thought it did, and so that makes the cost increase. And if that happens here, then the funding source will increase, too.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**OTHER SETTLEMENT FUNDS WILL GO TOWARD IMPROVING NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE AREA... INCLUDING WETLANDS... TO COMPENSATE FOR SOLVAY'S DAMAGE.

SOLVAY VOLUNTARILY STOPPED USING PFOA... WHICH IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF PFAS CHEMICAL... AT THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT IN 2003... AND PFNA IN 2010. BUT THE DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE. MORE THAN 100,000 POUNDS OF THE CHEMICAL HAD BEEN DUMPED INTO THE AIR AND WATER IN WEST DEPTFORD AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

INSTEAD OF... NOW REGULATED... PFAS CHEMICALS... SOLVAY BEGAN USING DIFFERENT PFAS AS A PFNA REPLACEMENT.

A STUDY PUBLISHED BY FEDERAL AND STATE SCIENTISTS IN 2020 FOUND THE COMPOUND IN SEVERAL SOIL SAMPLES COLLECTED AROUND SOUTH JERSEY... AND EVEN SOME FROM THE NORTHERN EDGE OF THE STATE.

LATER RESEARCH ALSO FOUND THE CHEMICALS IN THE DELAWARE RIVER... AND GROUNDWATER AROUND WEST DEPTFORD.

THE SCIENTISTS DETERMINED THAT AIR EMISSIONS FROM SOLVAY'S PLANT WAS THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE OF THE NEW POLLUTION.

IT'S UNCLEAR WHEN SOLVAY STARTED USING THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS. BUT THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN FOUND IN THE BLOOD OF COMPANY EMPLOYEES... AND HEALTH STUDIES MADE PUBLIC BY THE ONLINE NEWS SOURCE... THE INTERCEPT... SHOW THE CHEMICALS TO BE TOXIC TO RATS AND GUINEA PIGS. THEY'RE ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES TO HUMAN BLOOD CHEMISTRY.

SCIENTISTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORS HAVE WARNED FOR YEARS THAT SOME OF THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS MAY BE JUST AS DANGEROUS... IF NOT MORE... THAN THE CHEMICALS THEY'RE TRYING TO REPLACE.

LIKE PFNA... THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS ARE PART OF THE PFAS FAMILY... BUT AREN'T REGULATED.

AND IF YOU THOUGHT THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR PFAS WAS HARD TO PRONOUNCE... JUST YOU WAIT. THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR THESE NEW CHEMICALS? CHLOROPERFLUOROPOLYETHER CARBOXYLATES... BETTER KNOWN AS Cl-P-F-P-E-C-A.

SOLVAY SAYS IT PHASED OUT THE USE OF ALL PFAS AT THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT IN JUNE 2021.

AS A RESULT OF THE SOLVAY PFAS SCARE... PAULSBORO WAS AMONG THE FIRST TOWNS IN NEW JERSEY TO UPGRADE ITS WATER SYSTEM TO HANDLE THE CHEMICALS.

NEW JERSEY BECAME THE FIRST STATE TO REGULATE PFAS IN DRINKING WATER IN THE YEARS AFTER. BY THEN PAULSBORO'S PROBLEMS HAD BEEN FIXED... AND THE TOWN HAS NEVER VIOLATED THE STATE'S PFAS STANDARDS.

EVEN THOUGH PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER NO LONGER HAS HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS... ITS RESIDENTS LIKELY STILL HAVE THE CHEMICALS SWIMMING AROUND IN THEIR BLOOD.

THEY WANT TO KNOW FOR SURE IF THEY'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO PFAS. AND... IF SO... HOW THE CHEMICALS HAVE IMPACTED THEIR HEALTH.

RIGHT NOW... THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS IN YOUR BLOOD IS TO HAVE IT TESTED.

THAT'S WHERE DOCTOR LAUMBACH COMES IN. HE'S LEADING THE PAULSBORO STUDY. IT'S ONE OF EIGHT STUDIES OF ITS KIND NATIONWIDE... PART OF AN EFFORT ORGANIZED BY THE CDC THAT SCIENTISTS HOPE WILL SHED MORE LIGHT ON THE WAYS PFAS IMPACTS OUR HEALTH.

LAUMBACH AND HIS TEAM HAVE BEEN TESTING THE BLOOD OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN PAULSBORO ANY TIME BETWEEN JANUARY 2005 AND APRIL 2014... WHEN THE CONTAMINATED WELL CLOSED.

HE'S HOPING THE BLOOD TESTS WILL HELP SCIENTISTS DETERMINE HOW THESE CHEMICALS ARE IMPACTING OUR HEALTH... AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THEM.

SINCE THE WATER FILTERS WERE INSTALLED IN PAULSBORO... THE LEVEL OF PFNA IN RESIDENTS' BLOOD HAS DECREASED.

I MET HIM IN HIS OFFICE LAST SUMMER TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE STUDY.

A FEW RESIDENTS WAITED TO HAVE THEIR BLOOD TESTED.

ONE OF THOSE RESIDENTS WAS PATRICIA PUNTIER. SHE'S LIVED IN PAULSBORO FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**My uncle bought a house here a long time ago and we would come and visit him. And we thought this was like the greatest suburbs because we're so used to, like, the city. And so my mom bought a house here first, and then we just always stay around each other. So, I ended up buying a house here, too. And now we have about, my family, we have about six, seven, eight houses here. Everybody just, like, let's go to Paulsboro.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**YEARS BEFORE PATRICIA EVER HEARD OF PFAS... SHE EXPERIENCED A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHEMICAL FEAR... ONE THAT SHE AND OTHER PAULSBORO RESIDENTS COULD ACTUALLY SEE AND SMELL.

ON THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 30, 2012... SEVEN FREIGHT CARS DERAILED WHILE CROSSING A BRIDGE IN PAULSBORO IN THE MIDST OF A THICK FOG. ONE OF THE CARS WAS RIPPED OPEN AFTER CRASHING INTO THE MANTUA CREEK BELOW... SPILLING ABOUT 20,000 GALLONS OF A COLORLESS FLAMMABLE GAS CALLED VINYL CHLORIDE.

PUNTIER WAS ASLEEP WHEN THE POLICE KNOCKED ON HER DOOR.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**They were telling everyone, 'Get out. Everyone's got to go.' Like, what do you mean it was happening? So I'm grabbing my baby.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE ACCIDENT LED TO THE EVACUATION OF HUNDREDS OF RESIDENTS... INCLUDING PUNTIER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**And I'm leaving and I'm, like, 'Where are we going?' They're putting us up in hotels. And they're, like, 'Well, that train derailed' is what they're saying. 'The train derailed and there's something in the air, some chemicals and stuff in the water.' So, I actually had to grab my child and go and we stayed at a hotel for a few days that they paid for and everything. So, once they, like, evacuated us, that's when I knew, I was like yeah, this is pretty serious. I would never forget that day.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER SAYS SHE KNEW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT AIR POLLUTION PRIOR TO THE TRAIN DERAILMENT.

AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT PFAS AND THEIR POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS UNTIL 2014... WHEN SOLVAY STARTED PAYING THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE TO DISTRIBUTE BOTTLED WATER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**I remember getting my bottled waters. We had to go to a certain spot. And then you get like I think it was like two cases per week or something like that. And they were like, just don't drink the water. Here, take your cases. So I would go there with my stroller. I take my case of water, I put it in the bottom, and I go walking back home.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER AND OTHER RESIDENTS WERE WARNED BACK THEN TO ONLY DRINK BOTTLED WATER.

HIGH LEVELS OF PFNA HAD BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE TOWN'S DRINKING WATER. MANY PEOPLE BLAMED SOLVAY FOR CONTAMINATING THEIR WATER... BUT THE COMPANY DENIED THEY HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.

SOLVAY HAS TRIED TO SHIFT AT LEAST SOME OF THE BLAME. IN A 2020 LAWSUIT... THE CHEMICAL COMPANY ACCUSED THE NEARBY PAULSBORO REFINERY OF CONTRIBUTING TO THE AREA'S PFAS PROBLEM THROUGH ITS HISTORIC USE OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM... THAT'S THE PROBLEM WE TALKED ABOUT IN EPISODE TWO.

SOLVAY POINTED TO AN OIL SPILL IN 2012 AS A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE. THAT CASE HAS SINCE BEEN DISMISSED.

THE STATE... HOWEVER... DIDN'T BUY IT... AND IS HOLDING SOLVAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CLEAN UP. AUTHORITIES HAVE NOTED THAT SOLVAY HAS BEEN THE DOMINANT USER OF PFNA IN THE AREA.

PUNTIER SAYS ALL THESE YEARS LATER SHE STILL DOESN'T TRUST PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**Before this happened, I would drink water from the sink, tap water. Now, I only cook with the tap water. I won't actually drink it. It's a whole thing in town like that Paulsboro water is dirty and then we're gonna be mutants, things like that. So I rather not take my chances. It's been too many crazy incidents.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PFAS HAS BEEN A PART OF PUNTIER'S LIFE NOW FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.

SHE AND HER FAMILY ALL DRANK WATER THAT EXPOSED THEM TO PFAS... AND WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH OF THE CHEMICALS WERE IN THEIR BLOOD. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE TAKING PART IN THE RUTGERS HEALTH STUDY.

THIS IS HOW PUNTIER DESCRIBES HER FAMILY'S RESULTS...

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**Everything looks pretty normal, except for my one son, Dimir. Dimir is my middle son, and he has something called 4q deletion syndrome. And that is a rare chromosome disorder. So not a lot is known about it. So, his numbers were wacky. When the derailment happened, I was actually pregnant with Dimir. And then when Solvay happened, he was an infant. So, I'm always thinking in my head, you know, it's a rare chromosomal disorder, but could this have affected him? And seeing that his numbers are, like, high in some places, and I don't really understand it, it's hard to determine could this be something that came from environmental factors? Or is this something that just happened?

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER STILL QUESTIONS THE SAFETY OF THE AIR SHE AND HER FAMILY BREATHES AND THE WATER THEY DRINK. BUT IT'S FAMILY THAT KEEPS HER IN PAULSBORO.

ANOTHER STUDY PARTICIPANT... IRMA STEVENSON... CITED THE SAME REASON FOR REMAINING IN TOWN.

STEVENSON IS A FORMER NURSE... A LIFELONG PAULSBORO RESIDENT... AND THE MOTHER OF THE TOWN'S FORMER MAYOR.

SHE DESCRIBES WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE IN PAULSBORO WHEN HER KIDS WERE GROWING UP...

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**My husband is also a Paulsboro guy. He's lived here all his life, he's my childhood sweetheart. When we were raising our five children over on Thompson Avenue they were outside all the time playing baseball, football, street hockey, roller skating, riding bikes. They had paper routes. They only came in when the Mobil whistle blew at 4:30 to eat supper and they came in at night when the streetlights went on.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BACK THEN... PEOPLE CAME TO PAULSBORO FROM NEW YORK CITY... SEARCHING FOR A QUIETER... SLOWER PACE OF LIVING... AND JOBS.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**Oil. It was the oil business. Refinery, gas oil. Great jobs. I mean, a lot of the, mostly were gentlemen, like, the women that retired from Mobil was 30, 40 years they've been in that job. Their sons or daughters at that time, nephews would work. It was a family tradition. You'd have sometimes three generations of families working at Mobil.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PAULSBORO HAS BEEN A REFINERY TOWN FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS... AND HEAVY INDUSTRY HAS LONG BEEN PART OF THE REGION'S ECONOMY.

SOLVAY... OF COURSE... IS PART OF THAT.

STEVENSON SAYS RESIDENTS KNEW SOLVAY WAS USING CHEMICALS... BUT THE COMPANY PROVIDED WELL-PAYING JOBS FOR MANY PEOPLE IN THE AREA. BUT FEELINGS CHANGED WHEN PFNA WAS FOUND IN THE TOWN'S DRINKING WATER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**I mean, no one was really getting sick. Then all heck broke loose.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AUTHORITIES LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE AREA'S PFAS CONTAMINATION.

PAULSBORO RESIDENTS STARTED LISTING THEIR HOMES FOR SALE.

AND... EVENTUALLY... 12 PAULSBORO RESIDENTS FILED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST SOLVAY THAT WAS SETTLED IN 2016 FOR $1.8 MILLION.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**Of course, people were very concerned, which you should be. I mean, how much did it get into our water system?

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION MAY NEVER BE KNOWN. BUT THAT HASN'T STOPPED STEVENSON FROM DRINKING PAULSBORO'S TAP WATER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**I've been drinking water all my life here in Paulsboro. My mother lived to be almost 100, born and raised in Paulsboro, right on Commerce Street, drank the water.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**EVEN THOUGH STEVENSON SAYS SHE ISN'T WORRIED ABOUT DRINKING FROM THE TAP... SHE PARTICIPATED IN THE RUTGERS STUDY TO HELP RESEARCHERS BETTER UNDERSTAND THE HEALTH RISKS OF PFAS.

SHE SAYS HER TEST RESULTS DIDN'T SURPRISE HER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**It says, 'Look like I'm gonna live for longer.' Maybe. I'm trying 100. And it's good to know. Now they compare mine to other people, to the town, and it helps get the final results.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE GOAL OF THE STUDY IS TO SEE IF THERE'S A LINK BETWEEN PFAS EXPOSURE AND HEALTH ISSUES. BUT RESEARCHERS ALSO WANT TO TRACE THE LEVELS OF PFAS IN PEOPLE'S BLOOD GOING BACK OVER TIME TO SEE HOW LONG THE CHEMICALS STAY IN THE BODY.

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO HEALTH GUIDELINES FOR PFAS AND BLOOD... AND NO TREATMENT FOR IT.

I WALKED AROUND PAULSBORO... PAST THE TRAIN TRACKS... AND THE HARDWARE STORE THAT DISTRIBUTED BOTTLED WATER DURING THE CRISIS...

...AND I DROVE OUT TO WEST DEPTFORD AND SAW PART OF THE SOLVAY SITE... WITH ITS ZIGZAGGING PIPES. IT SITS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN NEAR THE DELAWARE RIVER... SEPARATED FROM HOMES AND BUSINESSES BY TRAIN TRACKS AND A HIGHWAY.

THE TOP OF THE FACTORY PEAKS OVER SOME OF THE TREES... BUT IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE SIGN MARKING AN ACCESS ROAD... THE CASUAL PASSERBY WOULD PROBABLY NEVER NOTICE IT.

ABOUT A 20-MINUTE DRIVE SOUTH OF THE SOLVAY PLANT IS PEDRICKTOWN... WHERE CHRISTINA BOND HAS LIVED SINCE SHE WAS BORN IN 1978.

I ASKED HER ABOUT SOME OF HER FAVORITE THINGS.

**Christina Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**I like to watch Disney, go to work and sometimes play on my tablet and listen to my Backstreet Boys.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE BONDS HAVE LIVED IN PEDRICKTOWN EVEN LONGER THAN THAT. HER DAD... RICHARD... SAYS THE HOME THEY LIVE IN NOW WAS BUILT BY HIS FAMILY IN THE 1960S.

HE AND HIS WIFE KIM MOVED THERE IN THE '70S AFTER THEY GOT MARRIED.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**Every one of my friends were here. I grew up and everybody here. And my father, he had a small snowball business. Everything was here, pretty much, that's why we stayed here.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**SOON AFTER CHRISTINA WAS BORN... KIM SAYS THEY NOTICED SHE WASN'T WALKING AND TALKING LIKE OTHER KIDS HER AGE.

**Kim Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**When she was born, all ten toes, all ten fingers. You figure everything was good. Came home, just thought everything was good until maybe, like, the milestones: Walking, talking. And then looked more into it and they said she had a delayed and from there it was just finding out different things and wondering why.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THEN... WHEN CHRISTINA WAS EIGHT... SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH SHPRINTZEN GOLDBERG SYNDROME... A RARE DISORDER OFTEN CAUSED BY A GENE MUTATION. BUT THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.

YEARS LATER... ONE OF CHRISTINA'S SISTERS GOT PREGNANT. THE FAMILY DECIDED THEY SHOULD ALL HAVE GENETIC TESTING DONE TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW BABY. THAT TESTING REVEALED THAT CHRISTINA ACTUALLY HAD CHROMOSOME ONE DELETION... A CONDITION THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.

KIM SAID NO ONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY WAS FOUND TO HAVE THE SAME ISSUE.

OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BOND FAMILY WOULD LATER HAVE HEALTH CONDITIONS THAT DEFIED EXPLANATION.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**It'd be better ask me what I don't have. Yeah, I got sarcoidosis and diabetes and cholesterol. I got it all. Tou know, deforms my bones. And I got this sarcoidosis is supposed to be what turns my skin brown. I got Charcot foot, that's when my foot just sort of bend in this way.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RICHARD IS A 72-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TRUCK DRIVER. HE HAS KIDNEY FAILURE AND NEEDS DIALYSIS EVERY DAY.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**It just takes your life away from you. That was the worst thing that ever happened to me, I think.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RICHARD SAYS HE DOESN'T QUALIFY FOR A KIDNEY TRANSPLANT BECAUSE OF HIS OTHER HEALTH ISSUES.

KIM IS 65 YEARS OLD. SHE'S GOT HER OWN HEALTH ISSUES... MOSTLY GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS.

SHE BALANCES TAKING CARE OF HER FAMILY AND SHIFTS AS A PATIENT TECH AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL. SHE SAYS LIFE CAN BE VERY STRESSFUL AT TIMES.

**Kim Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**You know, making sure I'm home to take him to appointments, her to appointments. You know, there's days I have to call out or try to make it all in one day. So... busy.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE BONDS LIVE IN A QUIET RURAL COMMUNITY BETWEEN THE SOLVAY PLANT IN WEST DEPTFORD... AND THE CHAMBERS WORKS PLANT IN CARNEY'S POINT THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN EPISODE ONE.

THAT MEANS THEIR HOME IN THE MIDDLE OF A TOXIC VENN DIAGRAM OF POLLUTION FROM TWO NOTORIOUS FACILITIES... WITH DECADES OF POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO PFAS THROUGH THE WATER THEY DRINK... THE GROUND THEY TOUCH... OR THE AIR THEY BREATHE.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2020... THE BOND FAMILY SUED SOLVAY AND OTHER CHEMICAL COMPANIES... OVER CHRISTINA'S HEALTH ISSUES. THE COMPANIES DISPUTE THEIR CLAIMS.

IT'S JUST ONE OF MORE THAN TWO DOZEN LAWSUITS FILED SINCE THAT TIME BY RESIDENTS IN THE AREA... MAKING SIMILAR CLAIMS AGAINST THE SAME COMPANIES.

FOUR YEARS LATER... THE BOND FAMILY'S CASE IS STILL GOING.

CHRISTINA TOLD ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT SHE DOES AT WORK.

SHE'S THRIVING AT WORK... BUT WILL STILL NEED SUPPORT AND CARE FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE.

STEVEN PHILLIPS... THE FAMILY'S LAWYER... SAYS THE BOND'S HEALTH ISSUES ARE THE RESULT OF LARGE CORPORATIONS MOTIVATED BY GREED.

**Steven Phillips -- Founding partner, Phillips & Paolicelli, LLP
**All of this was avoidable. The law can't make Christina or Richard's health different. What it can do is award dollars that will compensate them for their suffering. There should be an end to this. What happened to this family should not happen to families in the future, not only with respect to this chemical, but with respect to whatever comes next.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PEDRICKTOWN... PAULSBORO... WEST DEPTFORD... THESE SOUTH JERSEY COMMUNITIES ARE JUST A FEW THAT HAVE FOUND THEMSELVES AT THE FRONTLINES OF A NATIONAL CRISIS.

AND ALTHOUGH THE BLOOD TESTS BEING DONE IN PAULSBORO... OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY... CAN'T PREDICT IF SOMEONE'S GOING TO GET A DISEASE DOWN THE ROAD... IT WILL TELL YOU THE LEVEL OF EACH CHEMICAL THAT'S IN YOUR BLOOD. THAT INFORMATION MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU AND YOUR DOCTOR BETTER UNDERSTAND YOUR HEALTH RISKS.

I HAVEN'T HAD MY BLOOD TESTED FOR PFAS YET. I'M RELYING ON A WATER FILTER RIGHT NOW TO REMOVE THE CHEMICALS FROM THE TAP... AND I GUESS KEEPING MY HEAD IN THE SAND ABOUT ANY PAST EXPOSURE. I LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY... WHERE PFAS HASN'T BEEN FOUND IN THE DRINKING WATER.

BUT IF MY HOMETOWN OF SEGUIN, TEXAS DECIDES TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT PAULSBORO'S DOING... I'LL SIGN MYSELF UP... JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

ON THE FINAL EPISODE OF HAZARD NJ... WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE WAYS PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO PUT AN END TO FOREVER CHEMICALS... ONCE AND FOR ALL.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION... YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR REPORTING BY HEADING TO NJSPOTLIGHTNEWS.ORG/DONATE.

Credits

Hazard NJ is reported and written by host Jordan Gass-Pooré and producer Michael Sol Warren

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Research Assistant — Judah Duke

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming