Contents
Rainwater is unfit for consumption all over the world. This applies even to areas as little affected by human activity as Antarctica or the Tibetan Plateau – warns the journal “Environmental Science & Technology”. All through the so-called “Eternal chemicals”.
- PFAS are extremely persistent compounds that accumulate in the environment
- The currently observed concentrations of PFAS in various types of water clearly exceed the permissible levels
- «These substances have spread all over the world and we can do very little to reduce this pollution. A certain limit has been crossed »- admits prof. Martin Scheringer
- PFAS compounds cause many serious health damages, including cancer, infertility and pregnancy complications, high cholesterol
- More important information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page
Another limit of environmental pollution has been exceeded
“Eternal chemicals”, or PFAS compounds, are man-made substances that are hazardous to health and that spread readily in the atmosphere. They can be found in rainwater and snow, even in the most remote parts of the Earth.
Over the past 20 years, guidelines for PFAS levels in drinking water, surface water and soil have dropped dramatically due to new scientific evidence on their toxicity. As a result, the currently observed concentrations of PFAS in various types of water clearly exceed the permissible levels.
The latest article by scientists from Stockholm University and ETH Zurich, published in Environmental Science & Technology, suggests that another limit of environmental pollution has been exceeded.
The rest of the article is available under the video.
“Over the past 20 years, there has been an astonishing fall in the standards for PFAS in drinking water. For example, the guidelines for one well-known substance in the PFAS family, the carcinogenic perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have fallen 37,5 million times in the US! » – says prof. Ian Cousins from Stockholm University’s Department of Environmental Sciences, lead author of the study.
«The standards are constantly exceeded. We can do very little »
“Based on these latest guidelines, rainwater should be considered unsafe to drink everywhere, literally. And although in the Western world we rarely drink rainwater, many people on Earth use it in this way, hoping that it is fit for consumption »- adds the scientist.
For the last 10 years, the team of prof. Cousinsa conducted laboratory and field studies on the presence and spread of PFAS in the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists have noticed that the concentrations of some compounds in this group do not drop significantly even despite their withdrawal by their main producer, 3M, two decades ago.. However, it is known that PFAS are very persistent, and in addition, their continuous presence in the atmosphere may also result from the fact that they can constantly migrate from the surface to the atmosphere and back.
“The extreme durability and continuous circulation of some compounds from the PFAS family lead to the fact that the standards are constantly exceeded” – says another author of the study, Prof. Martin Scheringer. «These substances have spread all over the world and we can do very little to reduce this pollution. A certain limit has been crossed ».
“Eternal chemicals” and their effects: cancer, infertility, high cholesterol
The authors explain that PFAS is the collective name for per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances or highly fluorinated substances that have a similar chemical structure. All PFAS are extremely durable and persistent in the environment for an extremely long time, which earned them the nickname “forever chemicals”.
These compounds cause a lot of serious health damage, including cancer, learning and behavior problems in children, infertility and pregnancy complications, high cholesterol, and problems with the immune system.
Dr. Jane Muncke, Managing Director of the Food Packaging Forum Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland, says: “It cannot be that certain groups benefit economically by polluting the drinking water used by millions of people and causing serious health problems. The huge amounts that will cost us to eliminate PFAS from drinking water to levels safe for humans must be covered by producers and industries that use these toxic chemicals. It’s time to act ».
PAP / Katarzyna Czechowicz