European ecologists have discovered high concentrations of toxic perfluorinated organic compounds in snow and ice samples in Antarctica and Tibet.
The information office of the Green Science Policy Institute (GSPI) states that this indicates contamination of the soil’s hydrosphere with these substances.
Professor at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. “The high stability of these substances and their continuous dispersion around the world will cause their concentrations to rise above the permissible limit. Their concentrations have risen above the permissible maximum limits. Environment.”
Pseudo-perfluorinated organic compounds (PFAS) are complex organic molecules that contain a large number of fluorine atoms in their chains. These materials are widely used in the production of Teflon, cooling materials, fluorine-containing polymers, paints and other materials.
At the end of the last century, ecologists discovered that the widespread use of PFAS in the chemical industry led to the rapid accumulation of molecules of these compounds in the natural ecosystem and in the body of a large number of people. Recent research shows that perfluorinated organic molecules interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland, the immune system and many other parts of the body.
For years, Professor Scheringer and colleagues have been observing how these substances are dispersed around the world and how their typical concentrations are moving upwards towards the limits of permissible PFAS in water bodies, soil and other natural environments.
Based on this information, the Swedish-Swiss ecologists and their colleagues measured the levels of PFAS in snow and water samples taken from remote areas of the Earth and analyzed the results of previous observations, taking into account take into account different ideas about the maximum allowed concentration of these substances. The scientists used their results to calculate the maximum concentration of PFAS that can enter nature without causing significant harm to humans.
Interestingly, the results of the calculations and measurements of Professor Scheringer and his colleagues showed that these limits have already been overcome by mankind a few years or even a few decades ago. Scientists have also found high concentrations of several types of PFAS in snow, ice and water samples taken from the mountainous regions of Tibet and Antarctica. The presence of these compounds in remote regions of the Earth indicates the existence of a global cycle of PFAS compounds.
source: tass
Source: Arabic RT
