by gmoke
Sun Aug 14th, 2022 at 07:15:01 PM EST
I make it a practice to post only positive news about the environment and the climate; however, I can't get past this recent news:
"Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink due to levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS that exceed the latest guidelines, according to a new study by Stockholm University scientists."
Source: https:/phys.org/news/2022-08-rainwater-unsafe-due-chemicals.html
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are known as "forever chemicals" as they degrade so slowly in the natural environment. They were made for packaging, shampoo, and makeup. ("Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" and the least cost alternative to make more profit.) PFAS now are everywhere, so persistent and ubiquitous that they will "never disappear from the planet."
The guidelines for exposure to PFAS have changed as we've discovered more about their level of toxicity. They accumulate in the body over time and can lead to problems with fertility, obesity, developmental delays in children, and prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, among other things. However, "PFAS levels in people have actually dropped `quite significantly in the last 20 years' and `ambient levels (of PFAS in the environment) have been the same for the past 20 years'".
In addition:
"A new [2020] study estimates that more than 1,000 tons of microplastics from the air - equivalent to more than 123 million plastic water bottles - rain down onto protected areas in the western U.S. each year."
Source: https:earthsky.org/earth/microplastic-rain-western-us
What have we done to the rain? What are we doing to ourselves and all the living world?