Brisbane: An Australian research has found that “forever chemicals” in the environment are causing biochemical changes to freshwater turtles and driving population decline.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the landmark research measured concentrations of per-and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals, a group of over 10,000 synthetic chemicals commonly known as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the environment and human body, in Australian wildlife. Published on Tuesday by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), the study uncovered major health impacts on freshwater turtles at wildlife sites with high PFAS concentrations.
“Exposure to high concentrations of PFAS impacted essential metabolic processes in the turtles sampled. Adults had a high potential of forming gout, which is deadly in reptiles,” David Beale, senior research scientist at CSIRO, said. “We found that eggs
had altered ratios of essential minerals, and hatchlings had a high rate of defects in their shells.”
The team captured, measured, tagged and released around 350 freshwater turtles as part of the three-year investigation. PFAS levels were up to 30 times higher in the blood and organs of turtles from highly contaminated areas compared to those from sites with low levels of PFAS in the water.
Suzanne Vardy, DETSI principal scientist, said that there were fewer juvenile turtles at more contaminated sites, and models predicted that PFAS chemicals could cause a population collapse. Queensland in 2016 became the first Australian state or territory to begin phasing out the use of legacy firefighting foams, which have been identified as a major source of PFAS environmental contamination. Australia’s peak medical research authority in October recommended significantly cutting the country’s official acceptable limits of cancer-linked forever chemicals in drinking water.