The 'forever chemicals' previously linked to multiple health harms really are everywhere: They've now been detected in 98.8 percent of 10,566 blood samples tested in a new US study.
Technically, forever chemicals are perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and there are more than 15,000 known to toxicologists. The 'forever' nickname refers to their resistance to breaking down and their persistence in the environment.
Used extensively in a wide variety of manufacturing processes for decades, these chemicals have found their way into our food, our water supplies, and the planet's ecological systems.
We already knew that PFAS can seep into the human body. In this new analysis, researchers from NMS Labs, a toxicology lab in the US, wanted to look at how many different combinations of PFAS are present in our blood.
The data in this report were derived from 10,566 serum and plasma samples submitted to NMS Labs in Pennsylvania for PFAS testing.
