PFAS Central: sharing notable news, scientific papers & events

Although useful, PFAS or highly fluorinated chemicals are associated with serious health harm and can remain in the environment forever.

Latest News

[Podcast] Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Vehicle System Characterization and Cleaning

18 Mar 2024 | Sound Cloud

You are listening to The PFAS Research and Remediation Podcast, produced and created by Arcadis with funding from the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, ESTCP grant number ER-23 7692 through the United States Department of Defense.

Athletes likely to have higher levels of PFAS after play on artificial turf – study

15 Mar 2024 | The Guardian

Research raises more questions over safety of material that health advocates say is made with dangerous levels of ‘forever chemicals.’

How to protect yourself from ‘forever chemicals’

14 Mar 2024 | The Hill

“Forever chemicals” are everywhere — but there are significant steps consumers can take to protect themselves against the toxic substances, leading environmental engineers said.

No more delays to PFAS cleanup, state Department of Ecology tells Spokane International Airport

13 Mar 2024 | The Spokesman-Review

After several extensions and five months of negotiations, the Washington State Department of Ecology is telling the Spokane International Airport it will not accept any more delays for the initial stages of PFAS contamination cleanup.

This farmer’s livelihood was ruined by PFAS-contaminated fertilizer that few Midwest states test for

12 Mar 2024 | IPM News

Two years ago, he was blindsided when the state of Michigan ordered him to shut down his farm, citing high levels of PFAS — or what are often referred to as toxic “forever chemicals” — in both his beef and soil.

Latest Science

Two for the Price of One: Deriving Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Fillet and Whole-Body Conversion Equations in Fish

18 Mar 2024 | ES&T Letters

This study developed conversion equations between filet and whole-body concentrations of PFAS in fish from New York State, crucial for both human health advisories and ecological risk assessments, with conversion factors consistent across multiple PFAS chemicals but less consistent across species.

Temporal variability and sources of PFAS in the Rio Grande, New Mexico through an arid urban area using multiple tracers and high-frequency sampling

18 Mar 2024 | Emerg. Contam.

Significant temporal and spatial variability of PFAS were found in the Rio Grande, with notable increases in PFAS from urban runoff and wastewater effluent, and researchers demonstrated the use of longer-term passive samplers to compare PFAS concentrations in water bodies against one-time measurements.

Prenatal Exposure to Poly/Perfluoroalkyl Substances and Risk for Congenital Heart Disease in Offspring

18 Mar 2024 | J. Hazard. Mater.

PFAS exposure during pregnancy was found to potentially increase the risk of congenital heart disease, the most common type of birth defect worldwide.

Exposure to polystyrene microplastics and perfluorooctane sulfonate disrupt the homeostasis of intact planarians and the growth of regenerating planarians

12 Mar 2024 | Sci Total Environ

Both microplastics and PFOS can cause DNA damage and disrupt the nervous system in freshwater planarians, and their combined exposure can exacerbate these effects, shedding light on potential environmental and health risks associated with microplastics and PFAS.

Environmental impact of PFAS: Filling data gaps using theoretical quantum chemistry and QSPR modeling

9 Mar 2024 | Environ. Int.

Utilizing physics-based methods and data-driven models, researchers predicted environmental parameters to address gaps in understanding such as the bioaccumulation potential, contributing to a better understanding of PFAS behavior in the environment.

Latest Policy

ECHA Clarifies Next Steps for PFAS Restriction Proposal

18 Mar 2024

The European Chemicals Agency issued a press release on March 13, 2024, to outline how the Scientific Committees for Risk Assessment and for Socio-Economic Analysis will progress in evaluating the proposal to restrict PFAS in Europe.

Japan’s food safety panel drafts intake limit for 'forever chemicals'

4 Mar 2024

The Food Safety Commission of Japan released a draft report last month on the daily intake limit for PFAS, a set of fluorinated chemicals recently linked to a range of health issues such as cancer and pregnancy complications.

Fast-Food Wrappers That Contain PFAS Are No Longer Sold in the US, the FDA Says

28 Feb 2024

Starting in 2020, the FDA obtained commitments from U.S. food manufacturers to phase out PFAS in wrappers, boxes and bags with coating to prevent grease, water and other liquids from soaking through.

[Press Release] Scientists Successfully Head Off Concerning PFAS Bill

26 Feb 2024

This public health victory shows what happens when scientists contribute their expertise to the policymaking process,” said Marta Venier, an environmental chemist at Indiana University who testified in the hearings.

Evers signals he won’t sign bill to fight PFAS as legislative session nears end

26 Feb 2024

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signaled Wednesday that he has no intention of signing a Republican bill that would spend tens of millions of dollars to address pollution from the so-called forever chemicals known as PFAS because it dramatically scales back regulators’ enforcement authority.

Opportunities

[Job] Research Scientist I

Event: 24 Apr 2024

Biomonitoring California at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is hiring for Research Scientist I.

[Job] Senior Environmental Scientist

Event: 24 Apr 2024

Biomonitoring California at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is hiring for Senior Environmental Scientist.

[Call for Applicants] Two Epidemiological PhD Projects

Event: 1 May 2024

The National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark is looking for applicants for two fully financed PhD student positions.

PFAS Central Partners

Green Science Policy Institute Northeastern University Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute