PFAS levels increasing in Arctic animals, study finds

By Douglas Main

Concentrations of toxic pollutants known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are continuing to increase in Arctic animals such as polar bears despite efforts to rein in their use, according to a new study.

One type of PFAS known to be of particular harm, PFOS, was largely phased out starting 20 years ago. But average levels in several populations of polar bears and seals have continued to go up in recent years, according to the paper, published this month in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Exposure to some PFAS, also called “forever chemicals,” increases the risk of a wide range of health harms to humans and animals, scientists have found.

“There’s nothing in the Arctic that isn’t contaminated by PFAS,” says study co-author Rainer Lohmann, who studies persistent organic pollutants as an environmental chemist at the University of Rhode Island. “It’s just very sad.”

Of the animals looked at in the study, polar bears had the highest concentrations of various types of PFAS, approximately 10 times what has been found in people in the region.

Troubling findings were also seen for a type of PFAS called PFNA. Average concentrations of PFNA have steadily risen over the last couple decades in all populations of polar bears and seals studied, and appear to still be on the rise, according to the paper.

The latest published work adds to more than 200 studies that have turned up PFAS in well over 600 animal species, including those that are threatened or endangered.