While Bennington, VT Residents Learn How To Live With PFOA, Doctors Play Catch Up
The Department of Health is trying to get local doctors up to speed as hundreds of Vermonters, such as Coleen Healy, come to terms with the fact that they have elevated levels of the chemical PFOA in their blood. HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN / VPR
People in Bennington County have been learning how to live with PFOA in their water. Now they’re learning how to live knowing it’s in their bodies.
State officials think emissions from the former Chemfab factory in North Bennington contaminated hundreds of private wells in southwestern Vermont with the suspected cancer-causing chemical.
The Department of Environmental Conservation has been testing private wells around Bennington, and almost 250 are contaminated with the suspected carcinogen.
And a few months ago, the health department held blood clinics to test the levels of PFOA in the people who’ve been drinking the contaminated water. Just last week, those people got their results back.