Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Today at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture 2022 Annual Meeting NASDA members asked for more research and funding to discover best practices for responding to pollution from per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that impact farm and range lands, groundwater, surface water, livestock and the nation’s food supply.
“State agriculture departments’ primary responsibility is to protect the safety of our food,” NASDA CEO Ted McKinney said. “Today’s amended policy encourages the use of the best available science and appropriate risk assessment in establishing any regulatory standards of threshold levels for PFAS in food products.”
NASDA’s amended policy states, “NASDA supports federal funding for PFAS pollution response, including testing and sampling, state staffing, enhanced Dairy Indemnification Payment Program and additional federal programmatic support, agronomic research and other timely and effective actions to remediate or prevent contamination.”
NASDA’s policy also encourages the adoption of a universal response framework and interagency collaboration between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration in their collective efforts to support PFAS contamination mitigation and response.
“We look forward to collaborating with our federal partners to find solutions for farmers whose farms and ranches have been impacted by PFAS and ensuring a safe food supply for everyone,” McKinney said.
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NASDA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association which represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries and directors of the departments of agriculture in all 50 states and four U.S. territories. NASDA enhances American food and agricultural communities through policy, partnerships and public engagement. To learn more about NASDA, please visit www.nasda.org.
