persistent organic pollutants Archives

persistent organic pollutants

April 11, 2023

Banned carcinogen found in 88% of household objects, says new study

By Grace van Deelen

A banned chemical that potentially causes cancer in humans has been discovered in a wide array of household products, according to a study out today.

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are a group of chemicals that are used in metalworking and the production of PVC, plastics, rubbers, and other materials. They are persistent chemicals, meaning they don’t degrade in the environment and accumulate in animals. Chlorinated paraffins have been detected in various wildlife and in human milk and blood. The 2017 Stockholm Convention listed SCCPs under their Annex A, which urges the elimination of the chemicals. SCCPs were largely prohibited in Canada in 2013 and in the US in 2012.

A study published today in the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, shows that SCCPs are still widely present in household goods, indicating the need for more regulatory action. Researchers found SCCPs in 84 of 96 household goods tested in Canada. All the household goods were purchased at least one year after Canada’s prohibition of the chemical went into effect, suggesting that chemical regulation against SCCPs has not been entirely effective.

“We found [SCCPs] in almost everything, which was very surprising to us,” said Steven Kutarna, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and the lead author of the paper.

November 4, 2022

Industrial chemicals threaten hunting and fishing traditions

By Shannon Kelleher

For more than a century, members of the indigenous Penobscot Nation, who live along the Maine river from which they take their name, have mourned the loss of the migratory fish that sustained their ancestors.

Dams built by developers in the 19th and early 20th centuries along the Penobscot River cut off access to the ocean, preventing native fish from returning each year to spawn in their historic habitats.

A years-long restoration project was completed in 2016, reopening 2,000 miles of river to Atlantic salmon and other fish considered important nutritional sources for the people of the region as well as fish-eating birds and mammals, including eagles and river otters. Eleven species of native migratory fish returned to the Penobscot River due to the restoration project.

“We were very excited,” said Daniel Kusnierz, the tribe’s water resources program manager. “These would have been the species the tribe would have relied on heavily for food.”

But the celebration was short-lived: Though the fish have returned, researchers from the Penobscot Nation and government agencies have documented an array of toxic chemicals contaminating them, including dreaded per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances linked to various cancers and other health problems.

Known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” the class of industrial chemicals is almost impossible to eradicate and is increasingly documented in fish and other wildlife around the world. The plight of the Penobscot Nation is yet another example of how people everywhere are finding it increasingly difficult to escape the legacy of industrial pollution that threatens human and environmental health.