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Across four waterways in Illinois, fish were found to be contaminated with “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
The discovery highlights how these synthetic pollutants are becoming more prevalent in our everyday lives. They have been found in many commercial and industrial products and are known to be harmful to human health.
Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tested nine species of fish from 15 different sites in four rivers in northern Illinois for 17 PFAS.
In every single test site, fish were contaminated with PFAS. Additionally, high levels of PFOS, a type of PFAS compound, were detected in nearly all the fish that were studied.
Joseph Irudayaraj, the lead author of the study and a professor of bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said that the stability and durability of PFAS make them desirable for industrial use. However, these same qualities also make them a major health and environmental issue.
“PFAS contain multiple carbon-fluorine bonds, one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry,” Irudayaraj said. “Because of this, they are also very hard to break down. They persist for a long time because they are very, very stable.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are nearly 15,000 PFAS chemicals. They are categorized as short-chain PFAS, which have less than six carbon-fluorine bonds, and long-chain PFAS, which have six or more bonds.
In recent years, many industries have switched to the use of short-chain PFAS because they were thought to be less toxic, but that was proven false.
Now, PFAS are found in drinking water, household products, food packaging, and agricultural products. In the U.S., approximately 99 percent of people have PFAS in their systems.
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