Scientists make alarming discovery about worsening public health hazard: 'Ability to persist and spread'

Scientists are still investigating how "forever chemicals" impact human health and the environment, but research suggests exposure to them is dangerous.

Now, a stunning discovery out of the University at Buffalo is adding a new layer of complexity to a group of chemicals — also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — that have already caused Americans across the political spectrum to rise up and advocate for stronger protections. 

What's happening?

A team at the University at Buffalo examined 10 types of PFAS to gain insight into how they spread and accumulate in the environment. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, revealed that certain PFAS are more acidic than previously believed, and this upends what we know about how to track and assess their risk.

"These findings suggest that previous measurements have underestimated PFAS' acidity," UB RENEW Institute senior research scientist Alexander Hoepker, the study's corresponding author, said in a university release.

"This means their ability to persist and spread in the environment has been mischaracterized, too." 

Why is this research important?

Highly acidic PFAS readily "give up" their protons to become negatively charged, enabling them to dissolve and disperse in water more effortlessly, the University at Buffalo explained.

In short, the results of the investigation suggest that PFAS could be spreading in our environment even more easily than previously thought, identifying a potential gap in data that could more accurately inform PFAS regulations and mitigation efforts to safeguard public health.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry warned that PFAS exposure is associated with organ cancer, immune system dysfunction, and increased cholesterol levels (high cholesterol is a risk factor for stroke and heart disease), among other things. 

What is being done to protect the public from PFAS?

Communities are forming bipartisan coalitions to advocate for stricter regulations on potential PFAS exposure points, such as toxic sludge, and no fewer than 40 states have introduced or adopted legislation to protect the public from PFAS, according to Safer States.

On a personal level, many consumers support clean cosmetics brands and avoid nonstick cookware and other products that contain PFAS.

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Meanwhile, the University at Buffalo researchers likened their groundbreaking method of obtaining more accurate pKa measurements — referring to a chemical's acid dissociation constant — to an "MRI for molecules," allowing them to read atom-level signatures of PFAS.

"This new experimental approach of determining pKa values for PFAS will have wide-ranging applications," said Diana Aga, director of RENEW and one of the study's authors.

"In turn, knowledge of the pKa values of emerging PFAS will allow researchers to develop appropriate analytical methods, remediation technologies, and risk assessment strategies more efficiently."

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