Navassa residents participate in NC State PFAS, GenX exposure study
NAVASSA, NC (WWAY)– Forever chemicals in our water has been an ongoing discussion since 2017.
Now, residents in one Brunswick County community are doing their part to document ways these chemicals could be impacting their health
Contamination is nothing new for the Town of Navassa, which is why they are finally taking the steps to educate themselves, as well as bring environmental justice, to how this could be impacting their health to light.
“What’s going on with our citizens and the water we’re drinking?” says Navassa resident, Teagra Tonge.
That’s the question that the Town of Navassa, like many other residents in the Cape Fear have concerning forever chemical contamination in our drinking water.
“We ended up getting the study over here through different organizations and things like that because we are a small African American town that was affected highly by this chemical,” said Ernest Mooring Jr, Navassa District 1 City Council Member.
About two weeks ago, dozens of Navassa residents gave blood and urine samples to NC State University Environmental Health Researchers for a GenX exposure study.
“After about 4 or 5 incidents where there was no knowledge or understanding of what kind of impact it had on folks, now they realize that they need to do that. So when this opportunity came on, we jumped on it,” said Navassa Mayor, Eulis Willis.
These researchers will examine the samples and determine if these residents are facing any issues related to drinking water contaminated with GenX and PFAS from the Cape Fear River over the last several years.
“For many years, we have been just given a raw hand when it comes to purchasing water and paying for water in our community that we were unaware of the chemicals that have been manifested in our bodies,” said Tonge.
The results are expected to come back in about six months. What the next steps will be after that are unknown.
“If they don’t get their problems, health problems, and whatever kind of issues documented, that they won’t get a chance to profit, or at least be included in whatever the fixes are for some of these problems,” said Mayor Willis.
Town officials say having accurate medical information is vital, and that this study will provide documentation that PFAS-related health problems are a real issue.
“It’s actually going to each person, and each community, and doing their testing, so we can do more education for our citizens,” said Mooring
NC State is testing and studying people all over the cape fear river basin to better understand current exposure and potential health effects to help answer questions for North Carolina residents. But this study will take some time.
