Rachel Scholes, an expert on PFAS, also called forever chemicals, says a European study that found rainwater is unsafe to drink globally highlights how ubiquitous toxic substances are in the environment.
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A UBC expert on PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, has requested an investigation into the number of toxic substances lurking in BC’s drinking water.
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Exposure to the chemicals, which are widely used in rain gear and nonstick cookware, has been shown to have a wide range of health impacts, including immune suppression, cancer and cardiovascular disease, said Rachel Scholes. , assistant professor in the UBC Department. of Civil Engineering.
She spoke to Postmedia on Wednesday following a shocking European study showing that rainwater is unsafe to drink around the world due to persistent levels of PFAS in the atmosphere.
The studyby researchers at Stockholm University and ETH Zurich and published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technologystates that rainwater is not safe to drink in all areas of the world, including Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau, due to high amounts of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
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PFAS are ubiquitous in consumer products. Canada no longer allows PFAS in personal care products, but they are still used in manufacturing.
Scholes has applied for funding and hopes to start his research next year to test BC drinking water, which he assumes will have some PFAS. However, it has not yet been determined if there are unsafe levels.
She said the Stockholm study highlights how prevalent these chemicals are in the environment.
“I think one of the big takeaways from this latest study is that these compounds are so widely distributed in the environment that we will almost certainly find them (in British Columbia rainwater).”
Scholes can’t make recommendations for BC residents who collect and drink rainwater because “the data just isn’t there.”
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Governments are phasing out some PFAS, but Scholes said one is often replaced by another persistent chemical that remains in the environment.
“They are used so widely that it has been a challenge to stop all use of these compounds,” he said.
“I think the important point is that a couple of the chemicals that have been used the most are starting to be phased out, but are being replaced by other compounds that are likely to have similar effects. This is why many scientists are calling for all PFAS to be treated as a class of compounds and regulated together.”
Ian Cousins, lead author of the study and a professor at Stockholm University, said in a sentence there has been a “staggering decline” in the reference values for PFAS in drinking water in the last 20 years.
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For example, the drinking water guideline value for a well-known substance in the PFAS class, namely perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which causes cancer, has decreased 37.5 million times in the US, he said. .
“Under the latest US guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, rainwater everywhere would be considered unsafe to drink. Although we don’t often drink rainwater in the industrialized world, many people around the world expect it to be safe to drink and it supplies many of our drinking water sources,” he said.
PFAS are known to be highly persistent, but their continued presence in the atmosphere is also due to their natural properties and processes that continually recycle PFAS back into the atmosphere from the surface, the researchers said.
The Stockholm University team conducted laboratory and field work on the atmospheric occurrence and transport of PFAS for a decade. They noted that levels of some harmful PFAS in the atmosphere are not declining despite attempts to phase out the chemicals.
