Scientists discover concerning substances making way into food chain: 'Serious health risks'

A study by the University of New South Wales has provided new insights into how "forever chemicals" behave after entering the food chain. 

What's happening?

PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of human-made substances developed for their durability and resistance to breaking down — hence the forever chemical moniker. Useful properties include their ability to repel water and withstand heat, and they are found in everything from nonstick cookware to rain jackets to firefighting foam. 

However, as the study's authors noted in their findings, published in Nature Communications, PFAS represent "a pervasive and escalating threat" because of their toxicity, ability to persist in nature, and links to severe health complications, including cancer. 

The team examined 119 aquatic and terrestrial food webs from 64 studies and discovered that PFAS concentrations double on average every step up the food chain. 

Why is this important?

The analysis suggests that our diets could be a key source of PFAS exposure, as humans are the ultimate apex predators. 

The university reported there's "limited conclusive evidence linking PFAS exposure to any specific disease," but early findings are worrying enough that certain types of PFAS have been largely banned. Scientists are also working to remove PFAS from groundwater. 

"Given what we know about PFAS toxicity from other studies, these extreme accumulation rates in top predators suggest serious health risks," said lead author and doctoral candidate Lorenzo Ricolfi of the School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences. "This creates a cascading ecological risk: Apex predators face disproportionately high exposure even in relatively low-contaminated environments."

What's being done about this? 

As is standard in peer-reviewed scientific research to avoid overgeneralization and provide crucial context, the researchers noted several limitations in their study, including assumptions inherent to measuring how a pollutant's concentration increases per a step up the food web. 

Analyzed studies also disproportionately represented North America, Europe, and China. "However, after statistically accounting for this correlation, the direction and significance of the effect remained unchanged, demonstrating the robustness of our findings," the authors wrote.

Of note, they observed a "substantial variation" in bioaccumulation depending on the substance. Certain PFAS marketed as "safer" showed "even higher magnification" than the substances they replaced, per the university release. 

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"Urgent research into health impacts of these new chemicals is needed before they become as ubiquitous and problematic as the PFAS they're replacing," Ricolfi said. 

The team also called for future studies to report bioaccumulation for each step up the food web and for regulators to consider these compound-specific factors when making decisions.

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