A researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology has found high concentrations of the so-called “forever chemicals” in three fish species found in the St. Louis region and is hoping to develop ways to naturally mitigate them.
Polyfluoroakyl and perfluoroalkyl, or PFAS, are chemical compounds that are found in hundreds of consumer products including food packaging, clothing, cookware and personal care products. But they take a long time to break down and can be toxic.
Margaret Taiwo, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry, studied PFAS levels in fish in the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Missouri River and in Horseshoe Lake in Madison County.
“I found there are some fish that had PFAS levels that exceeded the regulatory limits,” Taiwo said. “Catfish had the largest concentration of the PFAs compounds, followed by the common carp and then the grass carp.”
Taiwo chose to study PFAS because they are a threat to the ecosystem.
“They move through water runoffs and discharge into freshwater locations, but the polluting source could be anything from our cooking to our clothing,” she said.
There is currently no federal guidance on what levels of PFAS, if any, are safe for human consumption. The Environmental Protection Agency started to set those standards during the Biden administration, but the Trump administration has since rolled back or delayed regulations on PFAS.
Taiwo hopes her research can help identify and solve the problem.
“It's not just about studying their bio accumulation pattern alone. It's about what solution can we prefer to eliminate them from the environment,” she said. “How can we use microbes to degrade PFAs, how can we mineralize them to nontoxic forms?”
Taiwo’s research is funded in part by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and she is looking for more money to expand the scope of her study.
