{"id":164640,"date":"2023-05-07T16:35:10","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T14:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/?p=164640"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:39:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:39:38","slug":"sggw-scientists-join-the-fight-against-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/sggw-scientists-join-the-fight-against-forever-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"SGGW scientists join the fight against “forever chemicals”"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n SGGW scientists join the fight against “forever chemicals”\n <\/h1>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The term “forever chemicals” is used to describe chemical substances produced for industrial purposes and everyday use, considered to be non-biodegradable. It is estimated that over 4 million tons of these substances have been released into the environment after the last 30 years of their use.\u00a0 They are extremely harmful to humans as well. Therefore some SGGW specialists representing different study fields undertook research that may contribute to the development of methods to protect the environment from eternal chemicals.<\/b><\/p>

Where do the “forever chemicals” come from?<\/b><\/p>

In the 1930s a synthesis was made by linking carbon and fluorine atoms. The carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest in organic chemistry and can resist degradation when used in the environment. <\/span>Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals.<\/span><\/p>

Effects of exposure to PFASs on human health<\/b><\/p>

It is estimated that over 30 years of their use, approximately 4.4 million tonnes of PFAS have been released into the environment. The greatest threat to life worldwide is their bioaccumulation capacity. Currently, in the US, they are detected in the blood of 92% of the country’s citizens. These compounds cause liver damage and thyroid disease. The best-studied PFAS are linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, cancer, thyroid disease, asthma, immune system dysfunction, reduced fertility, low birth weight, and effects on children\u2019s cognitive and neurobehavioral development. Scientific evidence suggests that exposure to PFAS can cause serious health impacts, among which kidney and liver damage, cancer, impaired fertility and immunity, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. It was revealed to the public in 2019 that the occurrence of PFAS is connected with some diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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PFAS Source<\/b>s<\/span><\/p>

PFAS may be released into the atmosphere and then redeposited on land where they can also affect surface water and groundwater, or PFAS may be discharged without treatment to wastewater treatment plants or landfills, and eventually be released into the environment by treatment systems that are not designed to mitigate PFAS. It is present in some firefighting foams, especially in military and aviation settings. Release to the environment typically occurs during firefighting operations, firefighter training, apparatus testing, or leakage during storage.<\/span><\/p>

PFAS are widely used in commercial and consumer products and household applications. Studies have shown that the physical degradation of some consumer products (such as PFAS-treated paper, textiles, and carpets) may release PFAS in house dust. These chemicals are also found in food packaging, as well as in some personal care products.\u00a0 <\/span>The largest amount of PFAS can get into our bodies with drinking water. PFAS compounds are soluble and can be transported into surface water or leach into groundwater. Therefore, the European Union is working on a regulation stating that as of 2026 all water supply companies will be obliged to publish the level of these substances in their water.<\/span><\/p>

PFAS has infiltrated our food system too. Food can also be contaminated with PFAS via the soil, water, and air where it\u2019s grown. Plant roots absorb water and nutrients from the environment to support their growth.\u00a0 PFAS was also detected in some types of fish and meat. PFAS has been recorded all over the globe, even in Antarctica and the Arctic.<\/span><\/p>

Science and PFAS<\/b><\/p>

PFAS turned out to be a great challenge both for science and for society, mainly due to their ubiquity in our environment and their characteristics.\u00a0 <\/span>Some works on how to reduce exposure to PFAS are conducted by Australian and American research groups. Lately, the EU also joined the research. The entire world has been studying the effect of PFAs on the environment. <\/span>Despite this, we are constantly surprised by events such as in Denmark, Sweden and the USA, where research shows that rainwater in some locations contains levels of chemicals that “greatly exceed” safety levels.\u00a0 A new study uncovered evidence in a sample of women in Singapore linking plasma concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with an increase in the difficulty of becoming pregnant. <\/span>Some data also confirmed that forever chemicals were present in some face masks, including the kind used to protect people from Covid-19 due to a <\/span>lack of knowledge about PFAS .<\/span><\/p>

SGGW scientists undertook research on PFASs, involving agricultural chemistry specialists (prof. dr hab. Wies\u0142aw Szulc, prof. dr hab. Beata Rutkowska), hydrologists (dr hab. Agnieszka Karczmarczyk, prof. SGGW), healing plants (dr hab. Katarzyna B\u0105czek and dr hab. Olga Kosakowska) and prof. dr hab. Stanis\u0142aw Gawro\u0144ski.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SGGW scientists join the fight against “forever chemicals” The term “forever chemicals” is used to describe chemical substances produced for industrial purposes and everyday use, considered to be non-biodegradable. It is estimated that over 4 million tons of these substances have been released into the environment after the last 30 years of their use.\u00a0 They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":157565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164640"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164644,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164640\/revisions\/164644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sggw.edu.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}