FOREVER CHEMICALS

Garden produce grown near Fayetteville works fluorochemical plant contains GenX, other PFAs

North Carolina State University

Residential garden produce grown near the Fayetteville Works fluorochemical plant can expose those who consume it to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to a new study conducted by researchers from North Carolina State University, East Carolina University and the Colorado School of Mines.

“It is often assumed that contaminated drinking water is the main pathway through which we are exposed to PFAS,” says Detlef Knappe, professor of civil, construction, and environmental engineering at NC State and a lead investigator of the study. “An important goal of our study was to determine whether people who live in PFAS-impacted communities are also exposed to PFAS through home-grown produce.”

The researchers collected 53 produce samples from five residential gardens located near the fluorochemical manufacturer Fayetteville Works in Fayetteville, N.C. Samples were analyzed for 43 PFAS. The targeted PFAS included GenX and 12 other per- and polyfluoroalkyl ether acids (PFEAs) that are uniquely associated with the Chemours-owned facility.

The summed PFAS concentrations detected in as-received produce reached up to 38 nanograms per gram (ng/g), with PFEAs from the manufacturer overwhelmingly dominating the PFAS profile.

Among different types of produce studied, which included fruits, vegetables, and nuts, researchers found that water-rich produce, like berries and figs, exhibited the highest PFAS levels. When comparing frozen produce harvested in the area over time, researchers observed a general decreasing trend in PFAS levels from 2013 to 2019, though with some variations. While the exact cause of this decline is unclear, researchers suspect that interventions implemented to reduce air emissions at the nearby fluorochemical manufacturer might have played a role.

Next, the researchers looked at how PFAS exposure through consuming contaminated produce compared to exposure through drinking water. Specifically, researchers determined how much produce would give the same exposure to GenX as drinking water with 10 ng/L of GenX, the highest level allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“The comparison was made based solely on GenX because it was the only one of the detected PFEAs for which toxicity information was available,” says Pingping Meng, assistant professor of chemistry at ECU and lead author of this study.

For the site with the highest average GenX concentration in the studied produce (0.19 ng/g), the researchers found that for children, daily exposure to GenX from drinking water containing 10 ng/L GenX is similar to eating about 17 g (0.6 ounces, or about 10 blueberries) and adults eating about 68 g (2.4 ounces) of produce. These produce quantities are about nine times lower for children and four times lower for adults than the typical intake of fruits and vegetables.

To assess the long-term risk of consuming GenX-contaminated produce in impacted communities, researchers also calculated the chronic-exposure daily limit, which is the maximum amount of produce that an individual could safely consume daily.

For children aged 3 to 6 years, the daily limit for chronic exposure was 289 grams daily (about 10 ounces, or one and two-thirds cups of blueberries), which is higher than the typical value of 186 grams per day. However, the researchers note that the risk from consuming this amount of produce is likely underestimated because the calculation didn't consider other PFAS in the produce.

“We may be underestimating the risk because we are not considering the potentially additive effects of PFEA mixtures, particularly for PFEAs that were detected at concentrations higher than GenX but for which health-based reference doses are lacking,” Meng says. “Research is urgently needed to better understand the toxicity of the dominant PFEAs that we detected in the produce.”

“Our results show that people who live near Fayetteville Works and consumed locally grown fruits and vegetables were exposed to numerous PFEAs through their diet,” adds Knappe. “These findings highlight that diet, in addition to drinking water, can be an important human exposure pathway.”

The study, “Residential Garden Produce Harvested Near a Fluorochemical Manufacturer in North Carolina Can be an Important Fluoroether Exposure Pathway” appears in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and was supported by the U.S. EPA [Grant R839482: U.S. National Investigation of Transport and Exposure from Drinking Water and Diet (PFAS UNITEDD)] and the North Carolina Collaboratory. NC State co-authors include Nadia Sheppard, Sarangi Joseph and Owen Duckworth. Christopher Higgins of the Colorado School of Mines also contributed to the work.

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Note to editors: An abstract follows.

“Residential garden produce harvested near a fluorochemical manufacturer in North Carolina can be an important fluoroether exposure pathway”

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c06177

Authors: Pingping Meng, East Carolina University; Nadia Sheppard, Sarangi Joseph, Owen W. Duckworth, Detlef R. U. Knappe, North Carolina State University; Christopher P. Higgins, Colorado School of Mines

Published: Nov. 20, 2024 in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Abstract:
Dietary intake can be an important exposure route to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Little is known about the bioaccumulation of emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl ether acids (PFEAs) in garden produce from PFAS-impacted communities and the associated dietary exposure risk. In this study, fifty-three produce samples were collected from five residential gardens near a fluorochemical manufacturer. Summed PFAS concentrations ranged from 0.0026 to 38 ng/g wet weight of produce, and water-rich produce exhibited the highest PFAS levels. The PFAS signature was dominated by PFEAs, and hexafluoropropylene oxide-dimer acid (commonly known as GenX) was detected in 72% of samples. Based on average measured GenX concentrations, chronic-exposure daily limits were as low as 289 g produce/day for children (3-6 yr). This analysis does not consider other PFEAs that were present at higher concentrations, but for which reference doses were not available. This study revealed that consuming residential garden produce grown in PFAS-impacted communities can be an important exposure pathway.

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Journal

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

DOI

10.1021/acs.jafc.4c06177 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Residential garden produce harvested near a fluorochemical manufacturer in North Carolina can be an important fluoroether exposure pathway

Article Publication Date

20-Nov-2024

Chemistry paper discusses new approach to breakdown PFAS, forever chemicals

Researchers have found a new approach for breaking down a group of human-made chemicals that can carry health risks from long-term exposure

Colorado State University

 

image: 

Garret Miyake

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Credit: Colorado State University College of Natural Sciences/John Cline

Researchers at Colorado State University have found a new approach for breaking down PFAS – a group of human-made “forever” chemicals commonly used for their water-resistant properties that can carry health risks from long-term exposure. 

The carbon-fluorine bond found in PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) compounds is particularly challenging to break apart. That durability has led to widespread use of these manufactured chemicals in medical, industrial and commercial settings. However, that inherent stability has also made them difficult to dispose of, and over time, they have made their way into water, air and soil across the world according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says exposure to these lingering compounds can lead to health problems, including cancer or reproductive issues. 

In a paper published today in Nature, CSU researchers showcase an effective LED light-based photocatalytic system that can be used at room temperature to break down those key carbon-fluorine bonds. The system is an improvement over traditional chemical manufacturing processes that typically require high temperatures to achieve similar results.  

Work at CSU was led by Professor Garret Miyake in the Department of Chemistry. His team partnered with fellow CSU chemistry Professor Robert Paton as well as Professor Niels Damrauer at the University of Colorado Boulder on the paper. 

Miyake said complimentary expertise across those teams led to this high-impact interdisciplinary research finding.  

“Our approach is a fundamental advancement in organic synthesis that achieves activation of these challenging carbon-fluorine bonds across a variety of situations,” he said. “Our method is more sustainable and efficient and can be used to address stubborn compounds in plastics, for example, in addition to the obvious uses around PFAS.” 

Most people in the world have been exposed to PFAS by touching or eating materials containing them. A common source of exposure is drinking water, but the compounds can also be found in non-stick consumer products, food packaging, and common manufacturing processes. Research led by the EPA shows that even low-level exposure can result in developmental effects like low birth weight or reduced immune response, among many other health issues. 

Postdoctoral researcher Mihai Popescu served as an author on the paper and contributed to the mechanistic understanding of the research using computational chemistry. He said the next challenge will be in taking the technology and preparing it for application in the field across many instances. 

“We need to make this technology more practical so it can be used in water or soil – places where PFAS are found,” said Popescu. “We need the chemistry we are showcasing here to be useful in those conditions and that is where a lot of work remains.” 

Miyake currently serves as director of the National Science Foundation funded Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis (SuPRCat) on campus. That center launched in 2023 with a goal of developing chemical manufacturing processes that harness light energy and utilizing readily available materials as catalysts. 

Miyake noted that similar research projects to the one discussed in the paper are happening every day through the center. Postdoctoral researcher Xin Liu – who lead the synthetic development of this work and is also a member of SuPRCat – said the work holds many possibilities. 

“This paper deals specifically with forever chemicals, but our approach in SuPRCat to using LED lights presents a host of possibilities towards achieving these reactions in a more sustainable and efficient way,” said Liu. “From dealing with plastics that don’t degrade quickly to improving the manufacturing process of needed fertilizers, this is a key area and something CSU is well positioned to lead on.” 

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-024-08327-7 

Article Title

Photocatalytic C‒F bond activation in small molecules and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Article Publication Date

20-Nov-2024

Study tracks PFAS, microplastics through landfills and wastewater treatment plants

Contaminants end up in biosolids, which are sprayed on croplands as fertilizer

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

 

image: 

Microplastics and PFAS flow into wastewater treatment plants from landfill leachate, left, and from storm and sanitary sewers. Both contaminants accumulate in biosolid waste, most of which is carted out and spread on agricultural fields. On the right, a sample of the microplastics recovered from wastewater treatment plants in Illinois.

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Credit: Photo by Fred Zwicky

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists analyzed the liquid waste, or leachate, released by four Illinois landfills and the inflows and outflows of associated wastewater treatment plants to determine the fate of two contaminants: microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

The good news from the study is that landfills retain most of the plastic waste that is dumped there, and wastewater treatment plants remove 99% of the microplastics and a some of the PFAS from the wastewater and landfill leachate they take in. The bad news is that both microplastics and PFAS accumulate in the biosolids that settle to the bottom of wastewater treatment plants. These biosolids must be disposed of in other ways.

The findings are reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

According to the industry-funded National Biosolids Data Project, 70% of the biosolids from Illinois wastewater treatment plants are used as fertilizers on agricultural land, and 30% are buried in landfills. This means that most of the microplastics and PFAS that flow into wastewater treatment plants are going right back into the environment, said John Scott, a research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led the study with fellow ISTC research scientist Andres Prada.

“The wastewater treatment plants are just taking the contaminants from one media and putting it into another,” Scott said.

Several hundred million tons of plastics are produced each year globally, and an estimated 79% of this material ends up in landfills or “becomes fugitive in the environment,” the researchers wrote in their report. Both microplastics and the endocrine-disrupting chemicals known as PFAS are now ubiquitous: detected in soil, water and in the human body, they said.

The new study is unusual in that it calculated the mass of microplastics in landfill leachate and wastewater influent and effluent. Most studies simply count the number of microplastic particles per volume of liquid, an unreliable measure because the particles will keep breaking into smaller bits, Prada said. To get the mass, the team measured the total surface area of the plastic particles and incorporated a standard measure of thickness and density based on the most common microplastic waste types: polyethylene and polypropylene.

“Landfills and wastewater treatment plants are usually studied separately, but in reality, those are combined systems,” Prada said. “Regulations require that landfills send their liquid waste to the treatment plants.”

And many studies look at only one contaminant at a time, he said.

“We wanted to put everything together, look at both systems and give results for both contaminants,” Prada said.

The analysis revealed that while landfills do a good job of retaining microplastics, their leachate contains high levels of PFAS.

“We were surprised how high the PFAS levels were in landfill leachate, while the microplastics were lower than expected,” Prada said.

While plastics degrade more slowly in landfills due to the compression of waste and the lack of solar radiation once they’re buried, the plastics will continue to break down into smaller particles, which will eventually flow out with the leachate, Scott said.

Wastewater treatment plants are designed to take in thousands of gallons of wastewater from sanitary and storm sewer systems, and that water also carries a significant load of microplastics and PFAS. While the concentration of PFAS in water flowing through these systems is lower than that found in landfill leachate, the massive volume of water coming in from sewers brings in a higher overall load of both contaminants, the team reported.

Wastewater treatment plants can take in 10,000 gallons of wastewater per minute but only about 30,000 gallons of landfill leachate per day, Prada said.

The problem of microplastics and PFAS in biosolids is not easy to solve, the researchers said. Spreading PFAS and microplastics across cropland is not a good practice, Scott said. “But what else are we to do with it? If we landfill it, we’re just going around and around in the circle of moving it from landfill to wastewater treatment plant and back to the landfill.”

Trying to treat the biosolids before disposal is a very expensive prospect, Scott said. The best practice would be to prevent the problem of plastic and PFAS pollution further upstream, he said.

“It’s time to tell people to start moving away from these things, stop producing these things,” Scott said. “Let’s turn them off at the tap before this gets any worse.”

This research was funded by the Hazardous Waste Research Fund, which is administered by the ISTC, a part of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I.

The paper “Microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill-wastewater treatment systems: A field study” is available online or from the U. of I. News Bureau.

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176751

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Journal

Science of The Total Environment

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176751 

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in landfill-wastewater treatment systems: A field study

 

Firefighters exposed to chemicals linked with breast cancer

Study identifies 12 toxic chemicals that put female firefighters at increased risk for the disease

Silent Spring Institute

It’s well documented that firefighters have significantly higher rates of cancer than the general population, and these elevated rates have been associated with exposures to toxic chemicals on the job. However, most research on cancer in firefighters has been done in men and less is known about the risks in women.

Now a new study by Silent Spring Institute has identified multiple chemical exposures that firefighters face on the job that could increase their risk of developing breast cancer.

“With more and more women entering the profession, it’s important to understand the impact of workplace exposures on their health so that we can inform policies to reduce exposures and create a safer work environment,” says study-co-author Ruthann Rudel, director of research at Silent Spring Institute.

The study appears in the journal Toxics as part of a special issue on firefighters’ occupational exposures and health risks.

Rudel and her colleagues searched through databases from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the U.S. National Toxicology Program to identify chemicals that cause mammary tumors in animals, because these chemicals are likely to increase breast cancer risk. In addition, the team searched for chemicals that have been associated with breast cancer in human studies.

The researchers then identified more than a hundred studies that describe the different chemicals firefighters encounter on the job and screened these studies to see which of these workplace exposures also raise the risk of breast cancer.

The analysis revealed 12 chemicals or classes of chemicals that firefighters are highly exposed to on the job and are associated with breast cancer risk. The chemicals include benzene, PAHs, acetaldehyde, styrene, dioxins, flame retardants, PFAS, and PCBs among others.

Firefighters can be exposed to an array of toxic chemicals when putting out fires—building fires, wildfires, and vehicle fires. They also encounter harmful substances in their protective gear, fire station air and dust, and diesel exhaust from firefighter trucks.

Several years ago, Rudel and her collaborators in California published a study in which they found female firefighters in San Francisco have higher blood levels of cancer-causing PFAS than women working in downtown San Francisco offices. The researchers also found female firefighters have much higher levels of flame retardants, which are also carcinogenic, in their bodies.

Manufacturers add PFAS to firefighter turnout gear and firefighting foams. “But we don’t know where the flame retardants are coming from—they could be coming from the gear or another source,” says Rudel. “If it turns out the chemicals are being added to turnout gear, that would be important to know so that they can be replaced with safer alternatives.”

Similarly, diesel exhaust from fire trucks contains PAHs, so switching to electric trucks would help lower exposures as well, she says. “It’s important to look at all the equipment and materials that firefighters routinely use.”

Understanding the risks women face on the job can not only help change policies to improve worker safety, but also it could help ensure female workers receive the medical care and other benefits they need should they develop breast cancer.

“This study fills an important research gap by underscoring the unique health risks female firefighters face from occupational exposures to toxic chemicals, specifically chemicals linked with breast cancer,” says Dr. Dan Whu, Chief Medical Officer at the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).

According to the IAFF, 20 states currently have presumptive laws that specify breast cancer as an occupational illness. This entitles firefighters to workers' compensation, disability, medical leave, and medical expense coverage if they are diagnosed with the disease. Another 16 other states have laws with less specific language that could allow the inclusion of breast cancer. On the other hand, at the federal level, the current cancer presumptive legislation does not include breast cancer.

“That means there are a lot of places in the country where female firefighters are not protected,” says Rudel. “Hopefully, the findings from our study will change that.”

 

Funding for this work came from the California Breast Cancer Research Program Grants #19UB-2900 and # 23BB-1700 and Silent Spring Institute’s Safer Chemicals Program, which is funded by charitable gifts.

Reference: Cardona B., K.M. Rodgers K.M., J. Trowbridge, H.B. Buren, R.A. Rudel. 2024. Breast Cancer-Related Chemical Exposures in Firefighters. Toxics. 12(10):707. DOI: 10.3390/toxics12100707

About Silent Spring Institute: Silent Spring Institute, located in Newton, Mass., is the leading scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the link between chemicals in our everyday environments and women's health, with a focus on breast cancer prevention. Founded in 1994, the institute is developing innovative tools to accelerate the transition to safer chemicals, while translating its science into policies that protect health. Visit us at www.silentspring.org. 

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Journal

Toxics

DOI

10.3390/toxics12100707 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Breast Cancer-Related Chemical Exposures in Firefighters

Trump Taps Fossil Fuel Ally to Head EPA, Push Anti-Environment Agenda

Lee Zeldin has a history of opposing critical environmental protections and clean energy job investments.

By Amy Goodman , 

DemocracyNow!

November 13, 2024


Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.

Environmental defenders are raising alarm over Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressmember Lee Zeldin, who has a history of opposing critical environmental protections and clean energy job investments. Zeldin’s nomination comes as Trump is reportedly discussing moving the EPA headquarters outside of Washington, D.C., which could lead to an exodus of staff and expertise from the agency. “I really don’t think this is about government efficiency. I think this is about terrorizing the career staff,” says Judith Enck, who served as a regional administrator of the EPA in the Obama administration.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman.

As Donald Trump quickly moves to name his Cabinet, we turn now to look at his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressmember Lee Zeldin. The Long Island Republican served four terms in the House, where he earned a score of just 14 out of 100 from the League of Conservation Voters, after consistently voting against critical environmental protections and clean energy job investments.

Zeldin’s nomination came after The New York Times reported Trump’s transition team is discussing moving the EPA headquarters outside D.C. Nate James of the American Federation of Government Employees told Politico many career EPA officials would leave the agency if it moves, adding, “it could be advertised as a relocation, but really it would be decapitation.”

Related Story

Biden Made Slow But Steady Progress on Climate. Trump Is Poised to Dismantle It.
Trump is threatening to unleash pollution, increase emissions and incapacitate the most robust EPA in a generation.
By Mike Ludwig , Truthout  November 11, 2024

We go now to Judith Enck, who served as EPA regional administrator under President Obama, now president of Beyond Plastics. We’re speaking to her outside Albany.

Hi, Judith. Thanks so much for joining us again.

JUDITH ENCK: Thanks for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about, as both a former EPA administrator and a person from New York, where Lee Zeldin was a congressmember for years — talk about what a Zeldin heading the EPA looks like.

JUDITH ENCK: Well, Lee Zeldin at the helm of EPA will be a wonderful tenure for fossil fuel companies, plastics companies, chemical companies. But it’s going to be really bad for people who want to breathe clean air, drink water that doesn’t have toxic chemicals or lead in it. And I’m particularly concerned about what a Zeldin EPA would mean for environmental justice communities, places like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, places like Appalachia and Texas, where there’s a concentration of petrochemical facilities, and today there is not enough environmental protections in place.

I’m glad you mentioned Lee Zeldin’s tenure in Congress, where he had the not very impressive score of 14% voting record when he was in Congress. But let’s go back even further. Some people don’t know that Lee Zeldin was a state senator in Albany. And his record was so bad that a statewide environmental group gave him the distinguished 2011 Oil Slick Award. And he earned that Oil Slick Award because he introduced bills that would have, for instance, reduced funding for mass transit, provide dirty water in his Long Island district. And he just really stood out when he was in Albany, and then he took that environmental perspective to Washington, where his record was equally bad.

I do want to talk a little bit about his run for governor against Democrat Kathy Hochul, because some people are saying it kind of doesn’t matter what Zeldin’s policy positions are because he’s just going to do what Donald Trump tells him to do. But make no mistake: Lee Zeldin is in lockstep agreement with the Trump administration anti-environmental agenda.

When he was in Congress, he did a few good things that’ll be interesting to watch, very few. He opposed offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t know what that means, though, for offshore wind development. He was a member of the Republican Climate Solutions Caucus, and they never did anything. And in breaking news, he supported protections for shellfish in Long Island Sound. Those are the only three positives that I could dig up on his environmental record. So, I have to agree with the guest from the ACLU who said this is going to be worse than anything we have ever seen at the EPA.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about Project 2025, that Trump disavowed, but that as soon as he was elected, people were saying, “Of course this is what the plan is.” Talk about the plan including over 150 pages with, to say the least, damaging environmental plans.

JUDITH ENCK: Yeah, this is very concerning. Project 2025 is 900 pages, and 150 are dedicated to anti-environmental policies. Project 2025 calls for disbanding the EPA Office of Environmental Justice. It’s disbanding the office at EPA that deals with enforcement of critical environmental laws. They want to speed approval of chemicals. They want to weaken the Clean Air Act by removing the essential part of the statute which requires the EPA to set health-based standards when regulating air pollution.

The plan uses phrases like “the perceived threat of climate change.” They want to shut down climate research not only at the EPA, but at a dozen federal agencies. They want to see more fossil fuel development on public lands, not just private lands. So they’re advocating for drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and also drilling for fossil fuels in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness areas.

And finally, all of us, unfortunately, have learned about the tremendous health damage caused by forever chemicals, known as PFAS chemicals, where EPA plays a major role. Something EPA, finally, recently did was classify PFAS chemicals as a hazardous substance. That was kind of a no-brainer. And this plan wants to reverse that.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, I wanted to ask you about moving the EPA out of Washington. Is this just a geographic thing, or what would it mean, with so many people, obviously, not moving?

JUDITH ENCK: Well, I think it’s not efficiency. I think it’s an effort to drive out the long-term career employees that work at the EPA office. I want to point out there are 10 regional offices all over the country, but the role of the Washington office is to essentially establish the rules of the road when it comes to pollution, how much air toxics are we allowed to breathe in in Cancer Alley, what toxic chemicals will be in our drinking water. So, I really don’t think this is about government efficiency. I think this is about terrorizing the career staff at EPA, making their life harder, distracting them, and, most importantly, taking them away from their day jobs, which is strictly enforcing environmental laws.

AMY GOODMAN: Judith Enck, I want to thank you for being with us, former EPA regional administrator under President Obama, now serving as president of Beyond Plastics.

 

Using personal care products during and after pregnancy can increase exposure to toxic chemicals

An analysis by Brown University researchers found an association between the use of personal care products and concentrations of PFAS in people who were pregnant or lactating

Brown University

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For people who are pregnant or nursing, more use of personal care products is associated with higher detectable levels of synthetic chemicals known to have adverse health effects, a new study by Brown University researchers found.

The study, published in Environment International, found that using personal care products like nail polish, makeup and hair dye while pregnant or lactating is associated with significantly higher levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in blood plasma and breast milk.

“While PFAS are ubiquitous in the environment, our study indicates that personal care products are a modifiable source of PFAS,” said study author Amber Hall, a postdoctoral research associate in epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. “People who are concerned about their level of exposure to these chemicals during pregnancy or while breastfeeding may benefit from cutting back on personal care products during those times.”

PFAS are synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products and industrial settings since the 1950s due to their ability to resist oil, water and heat. The study notes that PFAS have been associated with a range of adverse health effects, including liver disease, cardiometabolic and cardiovascular issues, and various cancers.

While several studies have detected these chemicals in personal care products directly, few have evaluated whether using these products impacts internal PFAS concentrations, Hall said. This is important, she added, because exposure to PFAS during pregnancy could contribute to  adverse birth outcomes such as decreased birth weight, preterm birth, some neurodevelopmental disorders and diminished vaccine response in children.

Hall led a research team that analyzed data from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals Study, which enrolled 2,001 pregnant people from 10 cities across Canada between 2008 and 2011. The researchers evaluated the contribution of the use of personal care products on PFAS concentrations in prenatal plasma (six to 13 weeks gestation) and human milk (two to 10 weeks postpartum). Participants reported frequency of use across eight product categories during the first and third pregnancy trimesters, one to two days postpartum, and two to 10 weeks postpartum.

In first-trimester pregnant people, the researchers found that higher use of nail care products, fragrances, makeup, hair dyes and hair sprays or gels was associated with higher plasma PFAS concentrations. Similar results were observed for third-trimester personal care product use and breast-milk PFAS concentrations at two to 10 weeks postpartum. 

For instance, participants who wore makeup daily in the first and third trimesters had 14% and 17% higher plasma and breast-milk PFAS concentrations, respectively, compared to people who did not wear makeup every day. In addition, the researchers found that people using colored-permanent dye one to two days postpartum had higher PFAS levels (16% to 18% increases compared to never using them) in human milk concentrations.

Hall noted that the study examined only four types of PFAS among thousands that are used in industry and commerce. Thus, the study likely underestimated the extent of exposure to all PFAS from these products during pregnancy, she said.

Hall conducted the research with Joseph Braun, a professor of epidemiology and director of children's environmental health at Brown University, who has been studying the health effects of PFAS for over a decade. Braun suggested that future studies examining how the use of personal care products affects PFAS exposure should consider differences by product type, as well as timing and frequency of use, or product formulation. This type of research can guide individual choices and also inform PFAS regulation, he said.

“Not only do studies like these help people assess how their product choices may affect their personal risk, but they can also help us show how these products could have population-level effects,” Braun said. “And that makes the case for product regulation and government action, so that we can remove some of the burden from individuals.”

The Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals Study, which Braun helped to conduct, was supported by Health Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-81285) and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

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Journal

Environment International

DOI

10.1016/j.envint.2024.109094 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Personal care product use and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in pregnant and lactating people in the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals study

COI Statement

Dr. Joseph Braun was compensated for serving as an expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs in litigation related to PFAS-contaminated drinking water. No other authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

 

New PFAS removal process aims to stamp out pollution ahead of semiconductor industry growth

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

 

image: 

With the construction of semiconductor factories expected to rise, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are working to get ahead of the PFAS pollution issues associated with the fabrication process.

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Credit: Photo courtesy Lehava Center Qiryat Gat

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS — including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS — from water in a single process. This new development is poised to address the growing industrial problem of contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly in semiconductor manufacturing.

A previous U. of I. study showed that short- and long-chain PFAS can be removed from water using electrochemically driven adsorption, referred to as electrosorption, but this method is ineffective for ultra-short-chain molecules because of their small size and different chemical properties. The new study, led by Illinois chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Xiao Su, combines a desalination filtration technology, called redox electrodialysis, with electrosorption in a single device to address the problems associated with capturing the complete PFAS size spectrum.

The study findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

“We decided upon redox electrodialysis because the very short-chain PFAS behave a lot like salt ions in water,” Su said. “The challenge was to produce an efficient, effective electrodialysis system to capture the ultra-short-chain PFAS, have it work in tandem with the electrosorption process for the longer-chain PFAS, destroy them with electrochemical oxidation, and make it happen within a single device.”

Su’s team has previously demonstrated highly efficient electrodialysis devices that remove various non-PFAS contaminants. However, the process requires ion-exchange membranes, which are expensive and quickly fouled by PFAS molecules.

To clear the membrane hurdle, Su’s team introduced an inexpensive nanofiltration membrane that enables the electric-field-driven removal of PFAS without becoming fouled. This technology is based on prior advances made by their group in combining redox polymers with these nanofiltration membranes to enable energy-efficient desalination.

For PFAS removal, having the right material for the job is one thing, but finding the most effective configuration is a significant challenge on its own.

“After experimenting with a variety of device configurations, we finally settled on a system that desalinates the PFAS-contaminated water to remove the ultra-short-chain molecules, then at the same time, carbon electrodes remove the remaining short- and long-chain molecules,” Su said. “This process also concentrates all the PFAS, making them easier to destroy once captured.”

Finally, the electrochemical oxidation process inherent to redox electrodialysis destroys the captured PFAS by converting them to fluoride ions, a key step towards eliminating these persistent contaminants from the environment.

Su said that the team is excited about the prospect of scaling up the process so they can take it out of the lab and into the field not only to address wastewater applications but also to incorporate the system on-site into industrial wastewater streams.

“This work is very timely due to interest from the U.S. government, wastewater treatment facilities and the semiconductor industry,” Su said. “Semiconductor production is expected to rise over the coming years, and PFAS abatement for sustainable production will become a major issue moving forward.”

Illinois researchers Nayeong Kim, Johannes Elbert and Ekaterina Shchukina contributed to this study. The National Science Foundation ERASE-PFAS program supported this research. Su also is affiliated with civil and environmental engineering, chemistry and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I.

 

Editor’s notes: 

To reach Xiao Su, call 217-300-0134; email x2su@illinois.edu.

The paper “Integrating redox-electrodialysis and electrosorption for the removal of ultra-short- to long-chain PFAS” is available online. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52630-w.

Chemical and biomolecular engineering is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and The Grainger College of Engineering.

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-024-52630-w 

Method of Research

Experimental study

 

New PFAs testing method created at UMass Amherst

The discovery is a promising step toward making water testing more affordable, portable and accessible

University of Massachusetts Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. — University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered a new way to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This marks an important step forward in creating testing devices that are simpler, more cost-effective, faster and generally more accessible than existing methods.

PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, have been recognized as a concerning pollutant.

These chemicals persist in the environment because they resist breaking down and pose significant health threats. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to various cancers (including kidney, testicular, breast, ovarian, prostate, thyroid and childhood leukemia), liver and heart damage, and developmental damage to infants and children.

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first-ever national safety standard for PFAS in drinking water at 4 ppt. “PPT – that means parts per trillion. That means in a trillion molecules in water, only 4 molecules are PFAS. And then we need to be able to detect even those few,” explains Chang Liu, associate professor of biomedical engineering at UMass Amherst and corresponding author of the paper published in the journal Science Advances that describes their new method.

The gold standard for testing PFAS is currently liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. However, this method requires million-dollar equipment and complicated extraction steps. And, it is not portable. “In addition, the stubborn persistence of PFAS residues can diminish the sensitivity of these instruments over time,” says Xiaojun Wei, first author of the paper and research assistant professor at UMass Amherst.

Their study demonstrates that a small, inexpensive device is feasible for identifying various PFAS families and detecting PFAS at levels as low as 400 ppt. While this proof-of-concept stage invention does not reach the same level of sensitivity or the breadth of PFAS types that can be detected compared to mass spectrometry, the researchers see high potential for its impact.

“We’re bringing the cost of the instrument from the scale of a million dollars to a few thousand,” says Liu. “We need better technology for detecting PFAS — more accessible, more affordable and easier to use. And more testing that’s on site. That’s the motivation.”

The researchers also see an application to use this method as a first-screening tool to identify the water that poses the greatest risks to human health.

Their testing device works by adding a molecule called cyclodextrin to a small device that is typically used for sequencing DNA, called a nanopore. The “host-guest” interaction between cyclodextrin and PFAS has been well documented, but Liu explains that no one had ever combined it with a nanopore for detection. “Now we’re using one of these molecules called HP-gamma-Cyclodextrin as an adapter in an alpha-Hemolysin nanopore,” he says, effectively creating a PFAS detector.

Liu hopes that their research will help raise awareness to the hazards of PFAS and eventually lead to a commercialized portable PFAS detector for water monitoring in the field.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adp8134 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Single-Molecule Profiling of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances by Cyclodextrin Mediated Host-Guest Interactions within a Biological Nanopore

Article Publication Date

6-Nov-2024