One analysis found that rainfall across the entire planet contains unsafe levels of PFAS. Now they're in soil, food, water, clothing, and even the dust in your home. They're nicknamed 'forever chemicals' because they don't really break down. What's worse, PFAS only stick around and build up. Peer-reviewed studies have linked them to some cancers, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, developmental delays, liver damage, high cholesterol, and reduced immune responses.

Humans have created thousands of substances in the PFAS class, since their resistance to water and heat makes them useful in everyday products like food packaging and clothing.īut in recent decades, research has revealed that PFAS are harmful to human health. Since their invention in the 1930s, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have multiplied and spread.

Rebecca Fudala/Reutersįish in lakes and streams across the US are contaminated with hazardous 'forever chemicals.'Ī map of documented contamination sites shows how PFAS pollution is everywhere.Įating a fish from a local lake could be equal to drinking PFAS-contaminated water for a month.Įating fish from a local lake or stream could give you a giant dose of hazardous ' forever chemicals,' equal to nearly a month of drinking highly contaminated water, researchers have calculated. A participant shows her catch during a virtual ice fishing competition on Gull Lake, Brainerd, Minnesota.

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