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Trying to reduce PFAS or forever chemicals in the environment

FILE - A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sign outside the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center, Feb. 17, 2023, in Cincinnati. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated two "forever chemicals" that have been used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances.(AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Joshua A. Bickel/AP
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FR171905 AP
FILE - A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sign outside the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center, Feb. 17, 2023, in Cincinnati. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated two "forever chemicals" that have been used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances.(AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

They’re in your water, they’re on your pots and pans, they’re even on your clothes and in your carpet.

They have a long chemical name, but you may know them as PFAS or forever chemicals, and they may be linked to everything from thyroid cancer to liver damage to osteoporosis and Type 2 diabetes in women.

Now some governments are trying to slow the spread of these chemicals in our bodies and the environment with new regulations.

Boise State Department of Chemistry Assistant Professor Jenée D. Cyran will be talking about these chemicals and the new rules April 23 at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boise and she’s agreed to give Idaho Matters a preview of "Forever Chemicals: The Race to Meet the New EPA Regulations."

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