New study reveals online PFAs information from public sources can fall short and leave public without enough guidance
Society for Risk Analysis
Herndon, VA, April 7, 2026 — Exposure to “forever chemicals,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), has been linked to serious health issues, like immune system damage, cancers, pregnancy complications and liver damage. A new study, published in Risk Analysis, finds that the websites people are visiting for PFAS information are leaving them without a lot of the guidance they need to protect themselves.
A study from the University of Wisconsin performed a human content analysis and computational linguistic analysis of the top 98 websites accessed by Google users in the United States searching for information about PFAS in drinking water. Websites spanned all levels of government, non-profit, water utility, news media, research and corporate sources.
As the primary destination for information seekers, online sources must balance the threats posed by PFAS, while providing accurate information on protection strategies to help the public reduce exposure. The authors of the study recommend messengers use clear, straightforward language about known threats while separately acknowledging uncertainty. Additionally, online sources should improve their depiction of audience susceptibility level.
The analysis found that:
News media gets it right on threat, wrong on solutions. They accurately report severity but still fall short on actionable advice.
Most websites did not forefront information to reduce risk. Most websites did not provide information about how to reduce the risk of PFAS on their landing page, despite previous research suggesting that people are hungry for this information.
News media and nonprofit groups talk about PFAS risks from an anxiety-evoking tone. This sharply contrasts language used by local government sites and water utility boards, creating inconsistency.
Without skin in the game, people don’t care. Local government and water utility sites rarely emphasized individual risk, even when their local area had documented higher PFAS levels.
Government sites can send people on a wild goose chase. Efficacy information was frequently buried behind links rather than presented upfront. In one case, a local government site redirected users from report to report burying data that showed PFAS contamination exceeded safe levels.
PFAS communicators face a difficult challenge, as the risks associated with exposure vary drastically by location, and the science is still evolving. Effectively communicating about mitigation strategies without downplaying the threat of PFAS in drinking water is key.
“If people searching for PFAS information are initially confronted with messages that don’t strike that balance, they won’t continue to seek more information on how to reduce their exposure,” said Lyn M. van Swol, professor of communication science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of the study. “That’s why we focused on PFAS messaging that information-seeking publics actually view rather than all the available sources out there.”
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Journal
Risk Analysis
Article Title
Efficacy and Threat Language in PFAS Messaging
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