They can be passed to babies in utero or breast milk, and their ubiquity means they’ve built up at high levels across the world. These chemicals take years or decades to break down in soil, water, animals, some plants and human bodies. It means PFAS have been an ingredient in a huge range of household and industrial products, including nonstick cookware, food wrappers, stain-resistant carpets, ski wax and a kind of fire-fighting foam widely used at airports and by the military. They were created by the 3M and DuPont chemical companies decades ago to make things “resistant” to effects like grease, fire, water, stains and more. PFAS stands for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, a group that covers thousands of chemicals, including ones that might be more familiar, like PFOA. What are PFAS or “forever chemicals?” Where do they come from, what health risks do they pose and how are they regulated? We answer some questions about what this sludge and these chemicals are, how they’ve spread in Maine, and what it all means for the state’s farmers and residents: “I think that as other states start to look into this … this is going to become more of a national story.” “Until now, this wasn't ever something that anybody knew that they had to look for,” said Sarah Alexander, who leads the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. The state testing program is expected to take years, but it’s already upended the lives of some farmers who’ve learned their land and water may have been contaminated long before they bought it, causing uncertainty for their products, their health and the future of their businesses.Īdvocacy groups are now calling for more aid and regulation of sludge and these industrial substances, which are sometimes called forever chemicals. State scientists in Maine are beginning to test for toxic chemicals called PFAS on hundreds of farms that may have been spread decades ago with fertilizer made from sewage sludge.
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