“Forever chemicals”
linked to cancer are turning up in farm produce across the country, leading farms
to lay off workers, incinerate cranberry harvests, kill cows, and dump
thousands of gallons of dairy milk.
Such long-lived "fluorinated" compounds have been
measured in the drinking water in over 600 locations in 43 states, near
factories or military bases that use them in firefighting foams. Best known as
PFAS chemicals (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), they line
numerous waterproof consumer goods, from hiking shoes to pizza boxes.
Now their emergence in farm produce has spurred state and
federal agencies to ramp up efforts to test for the chemicals in a wider
variety of foods, and to fund studies to track how the chemicals enter the food
supply.
In June, the FDA announced the results of its first tests
for PFAS compounds in supermarket staples, including cooked meat, fruit, and
iced chocolate cake. The health agency said it did not see a “food safety risk”
in its sampling and did not find PFAS chemicals in most foods. But it did
report PFAS in milk and produce that had been farmed near polluted locations.
While researchers at the National Institutes of Health and CDC are still
studying the health effects of the chemicals, some are known to hinder growth
and learning in children, lower chances of pregnancy, and increase the risk of
cancer.
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