(Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Brian Sikorski, a 7th grade student from State College Friends School, as part of a research project.)

PFAS, or polyflouroalkyl substances, are often used in everyday things like waterproof couches and nonstick frying pans because of their heat and water-resistant properties. These properties also make them useful in things like firefighting foam, often used in airports and military bases to extinguish fires that ordinary retardants can’t. Although this foam is helpful to put out fires, it often pollutes nearby wells with PFAS chemicals.

PFAS production started in the late 1930s and early 1940s. When they were first being produced, they were used in almost everything. The companies producing them learned of their dangers. However, when restrictions were made for the specific chemicals they were currently making, they would change it to a slightly different version. By simply changing a small part of it, it would be classified as a different chemical, and the producers would be able to keep producing them without restrictions. This is why there are over 15,000 different variants of these chemicals, all with very slight differences to its chemical compounds.

PFAS EFFECTS

PFAS can take thousands of years to dissipate from environments. The carbon-fluorine bonds within the molecules take hundreds to thousands of years to break down. This means it would stay in an environment, city or home for that long and not break down

In humans

Though it is hard to study every version, we know that these chemicals can cause multiple cancers, liver and kidney damage and many more diseases that could be life-altering.

In animals

In polluted areas, they can cause livestock like cattle to die en masse. In environments, though there is less research, we know that it can really affect the animals in them. It can spread through environments via bio-accumulation, which is when an animal eats several animals lower on the food chain that all have PFAS in them. The predator then gets all the PFAS from those prey in their system. Animals at the top get the PFAS from all the animals below them, so they have all of the PFAS from what they ate, which had all of the PFAS from what they ate.

AVOIDING PFAS

These chemicals are in nearly everything and everywhere. Scientists have found that 98 percent of Americans have PFAS in their blood. The best way to avoid them is by simply understanding what you’re buying. If it says something like heat-resistant, waterproof, or nonstick, try to avoid it because things like nonstick frying pans can leach some of the PFAS used in them into the food. Just by staying away from things with PFAS in them when you can, you can greatly reduce your risk of getting sick from them.

REGULATIONS

PFAS are often in disciplinary water sources in high, often unsafe amounts because of regulations that are often nonexistent or not enough to be safe for many chemicals, even though we know they are unsafe.

Currently, there are only six types of PFAS with regulations, but that number may go down to two very soon with the current administration. Contrary to the popular belief that well water is clean and free from contaminants, PFAS are often in private well water, especially well water near places like airports or military bases, because of the firefighting foam used there.

We can’t simply wait for them to decay. We have to do something to keep ourselves safe.

If you have an hour and want to learn more, I would greatly recommend watching a video by Veritasium called “How One Company Secretly Poisoned The Planet” on YouTube.