Stockholm University says rainwater is contaminated by PFAS
PFAS are a large complex group of over 4700 man made industrial chemicals. PFAS are Per fluoro alkyl and Poly fluoro alkyl Substances that are dangerous toxic chemicals and spread globally in the water and atmosphere. PFAS is petroleum based plastic.
Fluorine, fluoride is highly toxic to humans and is an extremely reactive chemical gas that attacks all metals. It’s electronegative of all elements and is an univalent poisonous gaseous halogen.
3M products and Tefal frying pans are made of PFAS. Teflon(Poly tetra fluoro ethylene, PTFE) is a kind of PFAS solid and Tefal is a mix of Teflon and Aluminium.
A new research paper published August 2022 by Stockholm University states that excessive levels of unsafe chemicals(PFAS) have been detected in rainwater, arctic snow, rivers and groundwater in various locations around the world.
https://www.su.se/english/news/it-s-raining-pfas-even-in-artactica
The chemicals are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they seldom decompose within our ecosystem, these PFAS are usually present in many types of goods such as shampoo, makeup and various types of packaging for fast food.
The contamination risk of these chemicals to our surroundings is very high. It turned out even rainwater and snow on the ground is contaminated by them.
Ian Cousins, who teaches at Stockholm University and was co-author of the study said: “There is nowhere on earth where the rain would be safe to drink, according to the measurements that we have taken.”
Forever chemicals PFAS is everywhere since 1938
According to the Cousins, ambient levels of PFAS in the environment have been the same for the past 20years. Because we’ve learned more about the toxicity of these substances. There has been an astounding decline in guideline values for PFAS in drinking water in the last 20 years.
For example, the drinking water guideline value for one well known substance in the PFAS class. Namely the cancer causing perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA), has declined by 37.5 million times in the US.
But it’s not a great situation to be in, where we’ve contaminated the environment to the point where background exposure is not really safe. We can’t escape it since 1938 when a chemistry Roy Plunkett at Dupont discovered teflon accidently.
https://www.organicconsumer.org
Based on the latest US guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, rainwater everywhere would be judged unsafe to drink. Although in the industrial 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 sauces.
Once ingested PFAS and PFOA, the substances accumulate in the body. Limited evidence suggests PFOA is associated with increased risk of testicular cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer. PFAS have been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, kidney cancer and liver cancer.
Sources: pfasfree, the journal of Environmental Science & Technology
