Begoña Jiménez
CSIC research scientist in the Department of Instrumental Analysis and Environmental Chemistry at the Institute of General Organic Chemistry (IQOG-CSIC)
In this study, Qiu and colleagues investigate the risk of exposure to toxic and persistent chemicals through the consumption of marine fish, focusing their research on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment, are a class of several thousand chemicals used in numerous industrial applications and consumer products for their water-, oil-, and stain-repellent properties, among others, and their high physicochemical stability. Through food intake, PFAS accumulate in the human body and pose health risks.
The expansion of global food trade, despite its advantages, can also be a vector for increased pollution in certain regions. The study provides a global map of human exposure to PFAS from marine fish and quantifies the risks to human health from global fish trade. The assessment focused on two well-known PFAS: perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), regulated by the Stockholm Convention in 2009 and 2019, respectively, and found that the PFOS risk index decreased by 72% after its 2009 regulation, while unregulated long-chain PFAS continue to pose high risks.
The results reveal the positive effect of global regulations such as the Stockholm Convention in reducing global exposure to already regulated PFAS and highlight the comparatively higher exposure risks of PFAS that are not yet regulated. This robust work, based on a large global dataset, highlights the urgent need to strengthen global chemical regulation policies in order to reduce human exposure to PFAS, the forever chemicals, on a global scale.