It seems that everywhere we turn, we hear another story about ubiquitous exposure to PFAS – a class of endocrine disrupting chemicals that shows up in water, food, drugs, cosmetics, clothing, and household items. It is part of “pollution’s hidden weight in the obesity epidemic.” This perspective comes from a recent comprehensive examination in Current Obesity Reports of the relationship between environmental pollution and obesity.  The authors remind us:

“Exposure to pollutants disrupts metabolic pathways, alters endocrine functions, and promotes systemic inflammation, ultimately contributing to obesity. Vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, children, adolescents, and the elderly, are particularly at risk due to their heightened sensitivity to environmental exposures.”

People commonly refer to PFAS as forever chemicals, because they persist so stubbornly in the environment and in our bodies. This is not good.

A Journalist’s Surprise

Recent reporting by Catrin Nye for the BBC provides a vivid illustration of just how pervasive these forever chemicals can be. She was working on an investigative report about the subject and decided to take a blood test for their presence in her own body. A level of 2 nanograms per ml of blood or higher presents a health risk. Her level was 9.8. The preventive health physician who provided the testing, Sabine Donnai, told her this exposure would “most likely” affect her health. Reflecting on this news, Nye said:

“Dr. Donnai delivered the news very gently – but it still hit me hard.

“I was worried, but I also felt angry about how this could have happened without me having any knowledge, and very little control.”

PFAS in the Food Supply

Recent research by the Environmental Working Group found that California farms receive an average of 2.5 million pounds of PFAS every year. One in seven Americans have unsafe levels of PFAS in their drinking water. All across Europe, the Pesticide Action Network recently found these forever chemicals in packaged food. The highest levels appeared in cereals, largely because of their presence in pesticides. The levels they found were 100 times higher than the levels in tap water.

Reducing Our Risk

One of the touchstones of the MAHA movement has been concern about such toxic chemicals as PFAS. This concern is one which science gives us good reason to address. Unfortunately, though, the Environmental Protection Agency is not doing a lot about it. If anything, the agency has been rolling back protections from a wide array of chemicals. Because of this, now MAHA activists are urging the president to fire Lee Zeldin, the current head of EPA.

It is indeed time to take seriously the risk of PFAS and other endocrine disrupting chemicals. The convenient and profitable benefits of these chemicals are not enough to justify adding to the burden of metabolic disease that affects easily half of the population.

Click here and here for recent reviews of PFAS and obesity. For more on the discontent of MAHA with EPA, click here. For Nye’s reporting on the BBC, click here.

Crop Spraying at Sunset, photograph by TCExplorer, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0