Late this summer, in response to a congressional request, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled Persistent Chemicals: Technologies for PFAS Assessment, Detection, and Treatment, which discusses technologies to detect, treat, and assess the health effects of PFAS contamination. Between March 2021 and July 2022, the GAO assessed PFAS relevant technologies, reviewed available reports, surveyed subject matter experts, and interviewed stakeholder groups, including government, non-governmental organizations, industry, and academia to prepare its report.
In its report, GAO identified three core challenges stemming from limited technology that hinder full assessment of PFAS detection and assessment:
- “PFAS chemical structures are diverse and difficult to analyze for health risks, and machine learning requires extensive training data that may not be available.”
- “Researchers lack analytical standards for many PFAS, limiting the development of effective detection methods.”
- “The effectiveness and availability of disposal and destruction options for PFAS are uncertain because of a lack of data, monitoring, and guidance.”
The GAO also recommended three policy options to mitigate the impact of the identified challenges. These policy options consist of:
- “Support development of technologies and methods for more efficient research into PFAS health risks.”
- “Collaborate to improve access to reliable samples of PFAS, known as analytical standards, and increase the pace of method and reference sample development for PFAS detection.”
- “Encourage the development and evaluation of full-scale technologies and methods to dispose of or destroy PFAS.”
