Beer drinkers should pay attention the next time they imbibe, as they may be consuming more than just alcohol, according to a new study from the American Chemical Society.
It reports that some U.S. beers contain higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum safe levels of polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have come to be known as "forever chemicals" due to the fact that they don’t naturally break down or pass through the body.
Other recent reports have found PFAS are present in drinking water across the globe, and the study's author decided to see if those same chemicals were making their way into beer.
"As an occasional beer drinker myself, I wondered whether PFAS in water supplies were making their way into our pints. I hope these findings inspire water treatment strategies and policies that help reduce the likelihood of PFAS in future pours," wrote lead researcher Jennifer Hoponick Redmon.
Breweries do use water filtration and treatment systems to ensure only quality water is being used in their brews, but those systems don't typically block PFAS from entering into the system.
Redmon and her team modified an EPA testing tool analyzing PFAS in drinking water and used it to test 23 U.S. beers.
They selected beers from areas where water-system contamination has already been documented, as well as beers from areas with unknown water systems.
According to the study's findings, some breweries in North Carolina, California, and Michigan had elevated levels of PFAS in their beers.
In 95 percent of the beer tested, PFAS with perfluorooctanesulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid — both forever chemicals — were present.
Beers from outside the U.S. were also tested. One beer from Holland and two from Mexico were tested, and were found to be less likely to contain PFAS.
"Our findings indicate a strong link between PFAS in drinking water and beer, with beers brewed in areas with higher PFAS in local drinking water translating to higher levels of PFAS in beer, showing that drinking water is a primary route of PFAS contamination in beer," the research team determined.
Last fall, researchers from the University of Birmingham, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, and Hainan University, Haikou, published a study that found that forever chemicals were present in water across the world.
PFAS can accumulate in the bodies of living organisms and have been linked to severe health conditions. They are used in different products like pesticides, non-stick cookware, food packaging and cosmetics, and can enter wastewater through many day-to-day activities. Government regulation has banned some, while the use of others is still widespread, with their toxic effects yet to be fully investigated.
They also revealed a wide range of PFAS contamination for target PFAS, beginning at 63 percent of bottled waters tested.
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