The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology on Tuesday by researchers at Stockholm University and ETH Zurich, argues that guidelines for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, surface water and soil have been lowered “dramatically”. in the last 20 years “due to new knowledge about their toxicity”. Ian Cousins, lead author of the study and a professor at Stockholm University, called the drop “amazing”. In a press release, he said the drinking water guideline value for one chemical in particular — the cancer-causing perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA — has been lowered by 37.5 million times in the U.S. “Based on the latest US guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, rainwater everywhere will be deemed unsafe to drink,” Cousins said. “Although in the industrialized world we don’t often drink rainwater, many people around the world expect it to be safe to drink and it supplies many of our drinking water sources.” The term PFAS is used to describe the thousands of man-made substances historically found in a range of items including surfactants, lubricants, repellents, firefighting foam, textiles, cosmetics and food packaging, the Canadian government says. Exposure to PFAS can occur through food, drinking water, and household dust and is associated with reproductive, developmental, endocrine, liver, kidney, and immune problems, as well as some cancers. Because of their ability to persist in the environment for long periods, experts often describe PFAS as “forever chemicals.” Researchers say the global spread of PFAS in the atmosphere means they can be found in rainwater and snow even in remote areas such as Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau. While manufacturer 3M has worked to phase out the substances for two decades, researchers say some harmful PFASs are not seeing noticeable reductions in the atmosphere. “The extreme persistence and continued global cycling of some PFASs will lead to continued exceedances of the aforementioned guidelines,” study co-author and professor Martin Scheringer said in the release. Scheringer says because of this, “it makes sense to set a planetary threshold specifically for PFAS, and as we conclude in the paper, that threshold has now been exceeded.” Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum in Switzerland, who was not involved in the study, said in the press release that companies should not be allowed to “benefit financially while contaminating drinking water for millions of others and causing serious health problems.” “ “The huge sums it will cost to reduce PFAS in drinking water to levels that are safe based on current scientific understanding must be paid for by the industry that produces and uses these toxic chemicals,” Muncke said. “The time for action is now.” With files from the Associated Press
