Final Reading: A ballsy move

By Lola Duffort and Peter D'Auria
Apr 21 2022



Environmental advocates took to costume-wearing at the Statehouse on Thursday to advertise the adverse effects of chemicals, including testicular cancer. What, you thought we wouldn't capture this moment? Photo by Peter D'Auria/VTDigger

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Ehlers and Bald singled out perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, a class of chemicals present in various consumer products, as a priority for action. PFAS can persist in soil and water for decades and have been linked to a number of detrimental health effects, including testicular cancer — hence the outfits.

Asked why he wanted to wear a giant phallus costume, Ehlers said, “Oh, I didn’t.”

“But you’re talking to me, right?” he said. “I've been sending out press releases for 25 years and putting forward the science, and people just ignore it.”

If conversations overheard in the cafeteria are any metric, many in the Statehouse found the activists hard to ignore on Thursday, although some expressed confusion about what kind of costumes they were actually wearing. One diner said they believed at first that it was someone dressed as the Easter Bunny.

“He was a beauty,” another said.

— Peter D’Auria