PORTSMOUTH — Former City Councilor Stefany Shaheen believes New Hampshire should take an “aggressive” approach toward dealing with the potential health impacts caused by PFCs that have contaminated water here and elsewhere in the state.

“I think New Hampshire has to be as forward thinking and progressive in mitigating any harmful and adverse health effects as possible,” Shaheen said recently when asked if the state should set its own health advisories on perfluorinated chemicals. “I don’t think we should be waiting for the EPA.”

The city of Portsmouth closed the Haven well in May 2014 after the Air Force found levels of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) 12.5 times higher than the EPA’s provisional health advisory PHA, which is set only for short-term exposure.

The Environmental Protection Agency classified PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which was also found in Haven well but below provisional health advisory levels, as “contaminants of emerging concern,” because of their potential harm to humans.

PFOS and PFOA are a class of chemicals known as perfluorochemicals that were used in firefighting foam at the former Pease Air Force Base, where the contamination took place.

The EPA has not set a permanent health advisory for either PFOS or PFOA despite calls to do so by Gov. Maggie Hassan and the state’s Congressional delegation.

Shaheen, who sits on the Community Assistance Panel (CAP) for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry which met last week for the first time, stressed she didn’t want to unnecessarily alarm people about other PFCs that might not have the same potential health effects as PFOS and PFOA.

“We need guidance from the EPA if there are compounds that don’t have the same kinds of risk,” Shaheen said Friday.

The ATSDR has stated that the studies that have been done on people “have shown that certain PFCs may be associated with “developmental delays in the fetus and child,” decreased fertility, increased cholesterol, “changes to the immune system,” and “prostate, kidney, and testicular cancer.”

Shaheen acknowledged she is concerned about other PFCs that the EPA has not yet set PHAs for, including PFHxS or Perfluorohexane sulfonate, which was detected at 830 parts per trillion in the Haven well.

“My perspective on this is the more we learn the more reasons I think there is for concern,” Shaheen said. “We might as well be aggressive because I think this is one of those situations where we’re on the forefront of uncovering and better understanding … what they could do to people.”

She stressed she was pleased with the first CAP meeting last week, and was happy to hear “we’re going to have resources brought to bear to chart a course forward.”

“We’re sort of all in uncharted territory,” Shaheen said.