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“PFAS in the House” was produced by Great Lakes Now/Detroit Public TV, in partnership with Type Investigations. This article was also co-published in Consumer Reports and The Guardian.
After spending several months reporting on the PFAS crisis, an alarming realization hit taco night might be poisoning me.
I learned that the type of nonstick pans that I used to fry the fish usually contain the toxic chemicals, also called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Research alerted me to their use in some types of parchment paper used to roll tortillas, while the aluminum foil in which I wrapped leftovers raised a red flag with its “nonstick” label. For dessert, I purchased cookies that a local bakery packed in the type of paper bags sometimes treated with PFAS, and the chemicals may have been in my tap water and fish.
BOSTON A week after a study found higher levels of PFAS in Cape Cod drinking water than was previously known, scientists from Harvard University s T.H. Chan School of Public Health said exposure to the “forever chemicals” can have a negative effect on immune system development in children and is associated with some risk factors for COVID-19.
“We are late in realizing what these compounds do to the immune system, and in the meantime, these PFAS compounds have been spread globally,” Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor of environmental health, said during a public webinar Thursday. “I’ve never met a blood sample that did not contain PFAS. We are all exposed.”
A wake-up call.
That’s how Barnstable County Commissioner Mark Forest described a Harvard University study published last week that found PFAS “forever chemicals” linked to cancer, immune suppression, low birth weight and other conditions have contaminated more groundwater on Cape Cod than was previously known.
The study, published in the journal “Environmental Science & Technology,” included revelations that previously unknown levels of the chemicals were present in Mashpee and Hyannis watersheds, potentially putting drinking water at risk.
Researchers used a new testing method that detected more PFAS than the tests regularly used by state and federal officials.
The total levels of PFAS detected in the three sites tested by researchers were all above the maximum levels set by the state for drinking water, according to Bridger Ruyles, the study’s lead author.
Uncovering hidden chemicals
Leah Burrows
Editor s note: Reprinted with permission from the Harvard Gazzette. T
he Harvard scientists in this study are part of the STEEP Superfund Research Program Center, a partnership between the University of Rhode Island, Harvard, and the Silent Spring Institute, working closely with the Town of Barnstable and the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition.
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have found large quantities of previously undetectable compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS in six watersheds on Cape Cod using a new method to quantify and identify PFAS compounds. Exposures to some PFAS, widely used for their ability to repel heat, water, and oil, are linked to a range of health risks including cancer, immune suppression, diabetes, and low infant birth weight.