A staggering 200 million Americans may be exposed to PFAS-contaminated drinking water, according to estimates and the situation could be even direr than previously thought as a new study found that consuming just a single serving of this type of fish per year could be equivalent to drinking water containing high levels of “forever chemical” PFOS for an entire month.
Scientists from the Environmental Working Group have found in a new study that eating just one serving of freshwater fish per year could be the same as drinking a month’s worth of water with high levels of the “forever chemical” PFOS, which may be harmful.
Scientists determined that consuming one fish per year was equivalent to drinking water with PFOS at 48 ppt for one month.
Since eating is considered to be a key source of PFAS exposure for Americans, the research supports EWG’s long-standing recommendations for stringent regulation of PFOS and the other dangerous “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, as well as additional testing of food such as fish.
The results are particularly relevant to communities with environmental justice issues since they often rely on eating freshwater fish that they have collected for food.
According to the EWG, the median concentrations of PFAS in freshwater fish were astonishingly 280 times higher than the levels of ever-present pollutants observed in certain commercially captured and marketed fish. According to testing results from the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration, eating freshwater fish for a single meal might expose you to the same amount of PFAS as eating fish from the grocery store every day for a year.
“People who consume freshwater fish, especially those who catch and eat fish regularly, are at risk of alarming levels of PFAS in their bodies,” remarks lead author David Andrews. “Growing up, I went fishing every week and ate those fish. But now when I see fish, all I think about is PFAS contamination.”
The 3M product Scotchgard component PFOS was the most often detected PFAS in freshwater fish, accounting for an average of almost 75% of all PFAS detections.
“These test results are breathtaking,” comments Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs. “Eating one bass is equivalent to drinking PFOS-tainted water for a month.”
Serum levels of the lifelong chemical may rise dramatically after eating freshwater fish infected with PFOS, which might be harmful to human health. Even if you only eat freshwater fish once in a while, you can still get more PFOS.
“The extent that PFAS has contaminated fish is staggering,” points out lead researcher Nadia Barbo. “There should be a single health protective fish consumption advisory for freshwater fish across the country.”
The researchers looked at data from more than 500 fish filet samples taken in the U.S. from 2013 to 2015 as part of monitoring programs by the EPA, the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, and the Great Lakes Human Health Fish Fillet Tissue Study. Fish filets had a median total PFAS concentration of 9,500 ng/kg, whereas Great Lakes fish had a median concentration of 11,800 ng/kg.
“PFAS contaminate fish across the U.S., with higher levels in the Great Lakes and fish caught in urban areas,” adds co-author Tasha Stoiber. “PFAS do not disappear when products are thrown or flushed away. Our research shows that the most common disposal methods may end up leading to further environmental pollution.”
Many people rely on freshwater fish as their primary source of protein, and those who cannot afford to buy commercial seafood are at risk due to PFAS pollution. Communities that rely on fishing for both their daily needs and for traditional cultural traditions suffer severe consequences. Chemical pollution in freshwater fish is an environmental injustice.
According to Stoiber, finding the origins of PFAS exposure should be a top concern for public health.
Industrial waste
The fact that fish in rivers and streams across the country are often contaminated shows how important it is to stop industries from dumping PFAS into the water.
According to EWG, there may be more than 40,000 PFAS industrial pollutants in the United States. Potential sources of PFAS emissions into surface water include tens of thousands of industrial facilities, municipal landfills and wastewater treatment facilities, airports, and locations where PFAS-containing firefighting foams have been deployed.
PFAS have been disseminated by the water pollution to the land, crops, and animals, including fish.
“For decades, polluters have dumped as much PFAS as they wanted into our rivers, streams, lakes and bays with impunity. We must turn off the tap of PFAS pollution from industrial discharges, which affect more and more Americans every day,” adds EWG’s Faber.
PFAS testing on fish
To find PFAS in fish, the EPA and FDA use various testing methods. The EPA tests for up to 40 PFAS chemicals in fish tissue, wastewater, surface water, groundwater, soil, biosolids, sediment, and the liquid that formed when trash decomposes in landfills using what is known as draft Method 1633.
National EPA tests show that almost all fish in U.S. rivers and streams have PFAS levels in the parts-per-billion range or even higher. Even though the most recent test results showed that the levels of PFAS were going down, there are still high levels of contamination in freshwater fish.
To test for 20 distinct PFAS chemicals, the FDA upgraded its scientific procedure. Samples of processed meals and seafood are also tested using this methodology. The FDA discovered much lower levels of PFAS in seafood purchased from grocery shops in its 2022 seafood study. The median levels of all PFAS found by the EPA were 280 times higher than those found in fish evaluated by the FDA for commercial sale.
Health dangers
PFAS are among the most persistent substances known, polluting drinking water, food, food packaging, and personal care goods. PFAS never degrade in the environment, but they do in our bodies. Almost everyone’s blood contains these, including newborns.
Even very small amounts of PFAS in drinking water have been linked to a weakened immune system, which can make vaccines less effective and raise the risk of some cancers. PFAS have been linked to high cholesterol, problems with reproduction and development, and other health problems.
More than 200 million Americans may be consuming PFAS-contaminated water. The situation is likely greater than what has been proven, highlighting the need of regulatory action.
“The EPA needs to move swiftly to set regulations for the industries most likely to be dumping PFAS into the environment. Downstream communities especially have suffered the consequences of unregulated PFAS discharges for far too long,” adds Faber.
Source: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.115165
Image Credit: Getty
