Consuming one wild fish is equivalent to month of drinking ‘forever chemicals’ water: Study

Washington, US

Consuming just one portion of freshwater fish locally caught in a river or lake in the United States is equivalent to a month of drinking water full of “forever chemicals,” a new study revealed on Tuesday.

According to Interesting Engineering, the invisible chemicals called Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) such as water-proof or non-stick coatings that people get to see on products like mobile phones, food packages, etc. are called forever chemicals. PFAS is a group of over 9,000 varied chemicals – the usage of some of which is banned or highly restricted, Study Finds reported.

“The extent to which PFAS has contaminated fish is staggering,” said first author Nadia Barbo, a graduate student at Duke University, in a statement, Local Today reported. “There should be a single health-protecting fish consumption recommendation for freshwater fish nationwide.”

The data that researchers examined were collected from over 500 samples of fish filets in the U.S. between 2013 to 2015.  The median level of total PFAS in fish filets was 9,500 nanograms per kilogramme, with a median level of 11,800 nanograms per kilogramme in the Great Lakes, Eurekalert reported. 

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PFAS is believed to have penetrated local waterways that impact drinking water supplies and contaminate the irrigated plants and fish found living there. Fish consumption has long been associated with exposing eaters to PFAS, as per the study. In 1979, for the first time, researchers identified such contamination in catfish inhabiting the Tennessee River.

“Food has always been a kind of hypothesis for how most people are exposed to PFAS compounds,” The Hill quoted author David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, as saying.

The study by Environmental Working Group scientists suggests the quantity of PFAS in freshwater on an average across the US was 280 times higher than forever chemicals found in commercially caught fish.

“People who consume freshwater fish, especially those who catch and eat fish regularly, are at risk of alarming levels of PFAS in their bodies,” one of the study’s lead authors Andrews said. “Growing up, I went fishing every week and ate those fish. But now when I see fish, all I think about is PFAS contamination.”

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This discovery was "particularly concerning due to the impact on disadvantaged communities that consume fish as a source protein or for social or cultural reasons," he added. "This research makes me incredibly angry because companies that made and used PFAS contaminated the globe and have not been held responsible."

Repetitive exposure to these chemicals not only weakens the immune system but results in severe health issues like cancer. These toxic substances don’t easily degrade in nature or inside the human body and therefore, Andrews urged for more rigorous regulation to discontinue non-essential uses of PFAS.

On Friday, European countries, including Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands jointly submitted to the EU's European Chemicals Agency a proposal to ban PFAS, France 24 reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

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