Family devastated after discovering cause of cancer scourge: 'That's when the light went off'

In a quiet Maryland town, a trusted local company is now at the center of a painful discovery, according to the Washington Post. What seemed like an ordinary part of daily life has left residents asking hard questions about what they've been drinking for decades.

What's happening?

In Elkton, Maryland, longtime resident Debbie Blankenship has battled cancer for years while mourning a string of pets lost to the same disease. For decades, she chalked it up to bad luck. That was, until 2023, when a local company, W.L. Gore & Associates, asked to test her private well water for PFOA, a toxic PFAS or "forever chemical" used in manufacturing.

"That's when the light went off," Blankenship said, according to the Washington Post. She realized she and her dogs — unlike her husband and children, who drank bottled water — had been the only ones in the family consuming well water.

Tests revealed concentrations of PFOA, one of thousands of chemicals in the PFAS family, known to persist indefinitely in the environment and human body, as the American Cancer Society explained.

Other nearby wells showed far higher levels: up to 1,800 parts per trillion, far above the Environmental Protection Agency's new maximum contaminant level of four parts per trillion. The lawsuits that followed alleged Gore knew of the risks for decades but concealed them, though the company denies wrongdoing.

Why is PFAS contamination concerning?

PFAS exposure has been linked to cancers, high cholesterol, infertility, cardiovascular disease, and developmental delays.

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According to the EPA, more than 158 million Americans may be exposed to PFAS in their drinking water. Even low levels can carry health risks, with former federal health official Linda Birnbaum warning that "many of the nearby wells should be capped and closed because it would be very difficult to clean them up," per the Post.

For residents like Blankenship, the impact is devastating. She described waking up each day with pain "only comparable to childbirth."

Another former Gore worker recalled headaches, numbness, and chemical odors on the job, saying, "I'm disappointed in the company for polluting, when I thought they were more concerned about the culture of the company," per the Post.

What's being done about PFAS?

W.L. Gore says it cut PFOA out of its supply chain more than a decade ago, and in Elkton, the company has paid to install dozens of filtration systems and hook some homes up to public water.

Still, Maryland has taken Gore to court, part of a growing wave of lawsuits that argue chemical makers should be held responsible for what's in the ground and in people's bodies.

Across the country, other manufacturers have already settled for billions, and the EPA has tightened its rules on what can safely flow from the tap. Yet families who rely on private wells remain outside federal protections. For them, safety often comes down to bottled jugs stacked on a porch or filters humming under the sink.

Stories like Debbie Blankenship's are not unique. From factory towns in Michigan to farm country in North Carolina, entire communities are living with the same uneasy question: What happens when the water you trusted turns against you?

The answers, still unfolding, will shape whether families in places like Elkton can one day drink without fear.

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