'Forever chemicals' found in seafood, meats and chocolate cake, FDA says

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/03/chemicals-seafood-meat-chocolate-cake-pfas-fda-report

Oliver Milman and agencies
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Mon 3 Jun 2019 16.51 EDT

Significant levels of chemicals linked to an array of health problems have been found in seafood, meats and chocolate cake sold in stores to US consumers, the Food and Drug Administration has found.

The levels in nearly half of the meat and fish tested by researchers were at least double the federal advisory level for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a group of more than 4,700 synthetic chemicals used for a variety of industrial purposes.

Meanwhile, the FDA report found much higher levels in the chocolate cake, the Associated Press reported, with PFAS levels of more than 250 times the federal guidelines.

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Public health groups have criticized the Trump administration for not acting more quickly to phase out the use of PFAS, with high levels of the chemicals on US military bases causing heightened concern and lawsuits in parts of the country.

Exposure to high levels of PFAS has been linked to cancers, liver problems, low birth weight and other issues.

The compounds have been dubbed “forever chemicals” because they take thousands of years to degrade, and because some accumulate in people’s bodies.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier established a non-binding health threshold of 70 parts per trillion for two phased-out forms of the contaminant in drinking water.

The EPA has said it would consider setting mandatory limits instead after the toxicology report and after federally mandated PFAS testing of water systems found contamination. The administration has called dealing with PFAS a “potential public relations nightmare” and a “national priority”.

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