Latest news with #PFAS
Scientific American
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scientific American
YouTube Science Star Derek Muller Confronts PFAS 'Forever Chemicals'—In His Own Blood
As the creator of Veritasium, a science education YouTube channel with 18 million subscribers, Derek Muller has spent the past 15 years exploring a counterintuitive vision for learning: Clarity numbs the mind, but confusion can crack it open. His audience has grown because of how he challenges common misconceptions about the laws of nature, and his rise has paralleled YouTube's, whose creator-focused approach has made it the world's largest streaming service by almost every measure—from content library to audience size—recently surpassing Netflix in revenue. Amid this symbiosis, Veritasium evolved—from unpolished five-minute clips of Muller quizzing people on the street to technically sophisticated science explorations with the satisfying depth of feature films. Muller himself has appeared in many roles: trickster science teacher, experimenter with a mad-scientist flair, fearless investigator in the mold of Indiana Jones. And in Veritasium's most recent video, one of the channel's longest yet, he steps forward as an advocate for one of today's most pressing health issues: the toxic 'forever chemicals' that are now being found to contaminate almost every human being, animal and ecosystem on Earth. Entitled How One Company Secretly Poisoned the Planet, the video clocks in at nearly an hour and garnered almost three million views within a day. It is not only an exposé of corporate malfeasance but also a scientific explainer of these forever chemicals (known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS) and their harm to humans. It debuted on the same day that the Environmental Protection Agency announced sweeping rollbacks of PFAS safeguards, supercharging the video's impact. Leveraging his audience, resources and cinematic craft, Muller has now focused Veritasium on a crisis whose invisible poisons, as the film's finale reveals, are already circulating in his own blood. Learning from Wrong Answers Teaching began early for Muller. Born in Traralgon, Australia, in 1982, he relocated to Vancouver as a toddler and so excelled in school that his teachers sometimes invited him to tutor the class. 'There was a certain way in which science appeared like magic,' he recalls—invoking science-fiction giant Arthur C. Clarke's adage that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from sorcery. He remembers ordinary school experiments—the upside-down glass that keeps a tissue dry underwater and the soda-and-Mentos fountain. But what stuck was the sense that the universe kept secrets only curiosity could unlock. 'Isn't it everything?' he says when asked why science matters. 'Isn't it obvious that it's the most important thing?' On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. When Muller graduated, he was torn between pursuing filmmaking and science. He wanted to be 'uniquely useful,' he says. 'I felt like if I went into science, maybe I would be a swappable cog in some sort of machine.' But he also feared that pursuing film might have him running coffees in Los Angeles in hopes of making the right connection and getting a break. He took a full scholarship in engineering physics at Queen's University in Ontario and then decamped to Sydney, Australia, to pursue film—only to learn that the Australian Film, Television and Radio School admits just a handful of students per program each year. Lacking a portfolio, he wandered into the University of Sydney's physics department in hopes of a tutoring gig and stayed to do a doctorate on how people learn—or fail to. In classes, he noticed that students often nodded appreciatively but retained almost nothing. 'If you perform a demonstration and don't force the class to make a prediction,' he says, 'they'll learn about as much as if they never saw the demonstration at all.' Muller's doctoral thesis compared two instructional video styles, which were viewed by undergraduates at the University of Sydney. The first featured an actor delivering a polished, textbook explanation of Newton's laws. Participants described this version as easy to follow. The second portrayed a student repeatedly stumbling over the laws while a tutor tried to set him straight. Most viewers found this depiction confusing. But when tested on the concepts, participants who called the textbook account 'clear' scored no better than they had before watching it. By contrast, those who watched the 'confusing' video improved significantly. Muller's takeaway was that learning requires friction—and that a student's first confident error may be the strongest lever a teacher can pull. 'Some level of discomfort seems to be essential,' Muller says. 'That's when learning can really take place.' From Back-Up Plans to Veritasium After Muller received his Ph.D., he says, he took a stable job with a tutoring company in Sydney only to realize that 'so much of my life had been about back-up plans.' As he looked for a way to merge his passions, his attention fell on YouTube. The platform, which launched in 2005 and was acquired by Google in 2006, had reversed the logic of the Web: Instead of charging creators to host videos, it was sharing advertising revenue with them and splitting the money 55–45 in the creators' favor—'a profound shift in thinking,' Muller says. In Australia comedian Natalie Tran's YouTube channel had already crossed a million subscribers, and she was pulling in a six-figure income. Whereas success in the film industry often depended on luck and connections, YouTube seemed more meritocratic to Muller. He kept tutoring 15 hours per week to pay his bills and started the channel he named Veritasium, which combines veritas, Latin for 'truth,' with the 'ium' suffix of an element to mean 'an element of truth.' Muller uploaded his first clip under the channel name Veritasium in early 2011. His trademark became the street-corner quiz. He would ask passersby why the sky was blue or whether a heavy object would fall faster than a light one and then watch their confidence crumble as he kept questioning them. In one video, he asked people what they thought would happen to an extended Slinky when it was dropped from a roof. They guessed it would simply fall. When his slow-motion footage revealed that the bottom end of the released Slinky merely hung suspended until a compression wave arrived from above, viewers felt their intuition buckle. Millions clicked, with each view yielding pennies and each penny affirming Muller's hypothesis: discomfort correlates with learning—and with viewer engagement. Nigel Kuan, a high school physics teacher, who met Muller while studying at the University of Sydney and later collaborated on several Veritasium videos, says Muller's emphasis on using people's misconceptions to teach science has influenced his own approach. 'I actually recommend the videos to newer teachers,' he says. One in particular, called Why Do You Make People Look Stupid?, stands out to Kuan as best representing Muller's pedagogic style. It opens with Muller arriving at a café table and saying, 'Hey, YouTube, you said you wanted to talk. What's up?' Across from him also sits Muller, wearing a white YouTube T-shirt and the type of reflective aviator glasses favored by law enforcement. 'YouTube Muller' accuses Muller of making people look stupid and shows clips in which the latter watches as individuals fumble through incorrect scientific explanations. YouTube Muller then quotes viewer comments—many laden with expletives—that called Muller 'condescending' and 'pretentious' and asks, 'Why does your face light up with glee every time you hear a misconception?' This video, it turns out, is no different from those in which Muller invites people to explain what water is or where trees get their mass. But now the fallacy to be disproved is not about science but about him: that, in his own words, he 'delights in humiliating other people.' Muller, of course, returns to his core idea: people learn better if they confront their own misconceptions. The Rise of YouTube and Veritasium In mid-2011, when Muller was getting his channel off the ground, YouTube was already processing 48 hours of new videos every minute and logging about three billion daily views. Soon it began organizing meetups and creator spaces in major cities and promoting thousands of fledgling teaching channels—from crash-course chemistry to Muller's experiment-driven physics. The result was a self-reinforcing marketplace where educators could earn a living and viewers could binge gravitational waves alongside gaming highlights. YouTube's 2012 decision to reward watch-time minutes over mere clicks also encouraged Muller to develop longer videos in which he layered demonstrations, expert cameos, and slow-burn narrative reveals, unspooling each episode like a mystery novel. In 2013 Veritasium cleared one million subscribers—by 2021, the number was 10 million. As for YouTube, today more than 500 hours pour onto the platform each minute. It counts 2.7 billion monthly users. And as of October 2024, its combined ad-and-subscription income had topped $50 billion in the past four quarters—comfortably ahead of any other individual streaming platform, including those owned by Amazon and Disney. Casper Mebius, who joined Veritasiumas an intern in 2023 and now writes, directs and produces episodes, recalls his first meeting with Muller, who, 'instead of interrupting me or cutting me short, just literally let me talk through the whole thing for 40 minutes.' Mebius soon learned this wasn't unusual. Muller often patiently listens through meetings with his team. 'Then he just makes one comment, and it's like he's throwing a dart and hitting the bull's-eye,' Mebius says. In this way, Muller is still teaching—letting others lay out their predictions and take the risks necessary for learning. But at times, his emphasis on the pedagogical value of risk-taking goes further, as when he swam in shade balls (softball-size plastic spheres that float on reservoirs to block sunlight) after a manufacturer warned him not to, explored Fukushima's radioactive zone and had a bucket of pennies dumped on him from a helicopter to prove that they couldn't kill him. Changing How We See the World Fifteen years after its inception, Veritasium—now one of the world's most popular science channels, with 18 million subscribers and more than 3.3 billion views—has grown from a one-man passion project to a team of nearly 20 people supported by investments from Electrify Video Partners, a company that helps digital creators scale their businesses. 'Now there's a big team, with dedicated editors, writer-directors and hosts, and that lets us tackle bigger and better stories,' Mebius says. One question the members always ask is whether the story they are telling will make people 'change the way they view the world.' How One Company Secretly Poisoned the Planet is perhaps Veritasium's boldest attempt yet to do so. Gregor Čavlović, a producer and director at Veritasium who co-wrote it with Muller, learned about PFAS while researching a previous project. The new video, which received more viewer watch hours on its first day than any other video in Veritasium's history, layers one mystery atop another: from why fridges were killing people in Chicago in 1929 to why cattle drinking from streams in West Virginia began dying in the 1990s to how the dangers of PFAS were hidden even as chemical corporations made billions. 'I think something important to note is how young and scarce research on PFAS is,' Čavlović says. In the video, as Muller and Čavlović discuss the many ways that PFAS have infiltrated our lives—such as via nonstick cookware, waterproof clothes and stain-resistant carpets—the story becomes increasingly unsettling. It follows West Virgina farmer Wilbur Earl Tennant, who watched more than 150 of his cows slowly die, and environmental lawyer Robert Bilott, who read through 60,000 corporate documents to reveal the risks of contamination. It describes how PFAS have contaminated not just household well water but also snow in the arctic and rain on the Tibetan Plateau. And it culminates with Muller testing his own blood for the forever chemicals. Levels of one of the PFAS chemicals in his blood, he discovers, is twice the national average, and another is six times higher than the average. His combined total places him close to the limit at which U.S. science and health advisory groups recommend screenings for PFAS-related diseases. Based on the contamination levels in many U.S. water sources, Čavlović and Muller deduce that the latter could have reached those blood levels merely by drinking tap water from various sources in and around Los Angeles. This is usually the moment in Veritasium videos where Muller shows his delight in solving a mystery, but this time the look on his face is one of dismay. The video also points out the Trump administration's threats to newly established EPA rules to limit PFAS in drinking water. 'An important point for the video was not just to inform people about how potentially harmful these chemicals are but also to tell them what academic and governmental institutions are doing to help regulate this,' Čavlović says. 'But it was by pure chance that the video was published the same day that the EPA actually decided to pull back some of these regulations.' The Courage to Question In an online sphere crowded with science content, Veritasium has consistently excelled for years by not dumbing down its videos to chase clicks. And Muller, as its host, is always quick to share his personal fallibility. 'The first principle is: you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool,' he says, invoking the cautionary mantra of physicist Richard Feynman. When a concept confuses or surprises him, he lets the audience know, and these viewers become his partners on the path to discovery. He hopes his approach—relentlessly trying to figure out the truth—will 'seep into people's brains on this deep level' and encourage them to understand the world 'not as I want it to be, not as it appears to be, but as it actually is,' he says. 'That is the unvarnished truth of the channel: it's trying to promote the increase of rationality and critical thinking.' The company he built operates nomadically, though Muller, his wife—planetary scientist Raquel Nuno—and their four children call Lisbon, Portugal, home at the moment. Parenting, he reflects, is beautifully poetic. 'You get to exist in the same interaction that you've already had as a child, but now you're on the other side of it,' he says. When his son asked why a rainbow is an arc, Muller felt the old itch to replace quick answers with deeper voyages. He created the video Why No Two People See the Same Rainbow to explain droplet geometry, refraction, optical caustics and the human penchant for stopping one level short of a true explanation. In this sense, the man accused of making people look stupid is chasing a rarer spectacle: the instant they look enlightened. And as Muller's story proves, embracing confusion can lead not only to deeper understanding but also to extraordinary outcomes and the courage to take on ever greater challenges. After all, Veritasium itself was born when Muller decided to stop playing it safe.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Toxic Fast Food Condiment Mistake Everyone Needs To Avoid
Who doesn't love a splash of condiment with their fries? But before you start merrily squeezing bottles and sachets, the most serious of many mistakes people make at fast-food restaurants is one that's vital to avoid. It's official: It's time to go cold turkey on squirting condiments on paper bags. The hack might seem savvy, especially when you're bolting down burgers in the restrictive dining area of a driver's seat, or even seated inside your favorite fast-food restaraurant where crockery doesn't exist. But paper bags should never be used as makeshift plates or dipping bowls. According to a 2022 Consumer Reports study, this habit is — quite literally — toxic. It risks cross-contamination with a dangerous set of 10,000 substances, nicknamed the "forever chemicals," that are often found in fast-food packaging, particularly heat-, water-, and grease-repellent materials. The investigation found PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in varied packaging from many retailers when testing over 100 different products. Included in these alarm-bell-ringers were McDonald's, Trader Joe's, Burger King, and Chick-fil-A. Many of these companies have subsequently committed to reducing their reliance on PFAS-containing packaging. But is it worth the risk? Probably not. PFAS exposure is linked with cancer, organ damage, and hormonal difficulties; the chemicals transfer the exact risks to the environment, too, endangering wildlife. It's a dangerous cycle, so avoid non-traditional bag use and play it safe. Yes, it really is time to break the habit of a lifetime. Read more: For Fresh, Not Frozen Fast Food, Try These 12 Popular Chains Avoiding cross-contamination is a wise choice. Why juggle with fire? However, that is just one small step towards protecting yourself from PFAS. After committing to never again squirting condiments on your paper bags, what next? Ideally, limit the amount of fast food you consume. PFAS are heavily bio-accumulative, meaning they tend to build up in our systems over time. The less exposure to fast food, the lower your overall risk. If that sounds impossible, though, focus on limiting exposure to packaging instead. Remove the food from its wrappers immediately, and never reheat items in their original boxing. When heated, these containers can leach. Styrofoam and plastic are common culprits (hence why you should think twice before you reheat Chinese takeout in the containers). As for the future of fast-food packaging? You might recall that at least two fast food chains were sued over this forever chemicals report. One of these was McDonald's, which subsequently committed to eliminating all PFAS from its packaging by 2025. As of 2024, there were announcements that McDonald's was updating its McFlurry cups with sustainability in mind. And the FDA has said that packaging containing PFAS is no longer sold in the U.S. However, the agency continues to test many products and even allows them in some circumstances. In short, the needle is slowly moving. However, consumer awareness is non-negotiable — be proactive, and ensure you do your best to limit your own intake. There's no better protection than prevention. Read the original article on Tasting Table.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
ALS Ltd (CPBLF) (FY 2025) Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth Amidst Strategic ...
Revenue Growth: 16% increase to $3 billion. Underlying EBIT Growth: 4.7% increase, 7.7% on a constant currency basis. EBIT Margin: 19.1% excluding recent acquisitions; overall margin declined to 17.2%. Minerals Margin: Maintained at approximately 31%. Life Sciences Organic Growth: 9.8% in Environmental sector. Cash Conversion: 95% of underlying EBITDA. Net Profit After Tax (NPAT): Declined 1.4% to $312.1 million; increased 2.8% on a constant currency basis. Dividend: Final dividend of $19.7 per share, 60% payout ratio. Commodities Revenue Growth: 0.2% increase; 2.5% on a constant currency basis. Industrial Materials Organic Growth: 11.3% with margin improvements. Life Sciences Revenue Growth: 27.4% total growth; 6.6% organic growth. Leverage: 2.3 times, at the upper end of the target range. Capital Expenditure: $165 million, 5.5% of revenue. Interest Expense: Approximately $82 million in FY25. Debt Maturity: Weighted average debt maturity of 4.7 years. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 10 Warning Sign with CPBLF. Release Date: May 27, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. ALS Ltd (CPBLF) reported strong revenue growth of 16% to $3 billion for fiscal year '25, demonstrating the strength of its diversified and resilient operating model. The company achieved a robust EBIT margin of 19.1% excluding recent acquisitions, aligning with its strategic plan objectives. Life Sciences division delivered industry-leading organic growth of 9.8% in Environmental, benefiting from increased testing demand for PFAS. ALS Ltd (CPBLF) maintained a strong cash conversion rate of 95% of underlying EBITDA, supporting its capital framework and growth journey. The company declared a final dividend of $19.7 per share, reflecting a 60% payout ratio, supported by solid performance and liquidity. The underlying EBIT margin declined to 17.2% due to dilution from recent acquisitions and cyclical pricing pressures in Minerals. Return on capital employed decreased to 18.9%, impacted by recent acquisitions. Underlying net profit after tax declined by 1.4% to $312.1 million, although it increased by 2.8% on a constant currency basis. The company's leverage ratio was at the upper end of its target range at 2.3 times, reflecting investment and integration activities. ALS Ltd (CPBLF) faces a $5 million to $10 million EBIT risk in fiscal year '26 due to changes in Mexican pharmaceutical testing regulations. Q: Are you expecting recovery from other regions in the minerals sector, and what is your outlook for 2026? A: Malcolm Deane, CEO: Recovery is coming from South America, Australia, and Central Asia. North America shows mixed results, with Eastern Canada performing better than Western Canada. The recovery is driven by majors and mid-tiers, with a slight increase in gold activities. It's too early to determine the full impact from juniors. Q: What are the drivers of the above-average growth in the Environmental sector? A: Malcolm Deane, CEO: Growth is driven by pricing discipline, market share gains due to reliable service, and enforcement of existing regulations. The Environmental business has experienced consistent margin improvement and top-line growth. Q: Can you provide more details on minerals testing volumes and trends in the fourth quarter? A: Malcolm Deane, CEO: Improved momentum began at the start of Q4, with mining activities resuming earlier than usual. Sample volumes have remained steady, allowing for inventory rebuilding and a change in pricing momentum. We raised prices by 4-5% at the beginning of the calendar year. Q: How should we think about the deployment of surplus funds from acquisitions? A: Malcolm Deane, CEO: Expect no major deployments in the next six months as we focus on completing current integrations. We are looking at opportunities in minerals, particularly in non-exploration areas, and expanding our Environmental business. These opportunities may take 12 months to realize. Q: What is the rationale behind moving the head office to Madrid? A: Malcolm Deane, CEO: The move consolidates the executive team in Europe, improving decision-making agility. Europe is a focus area with 40% of our workforce, and Madrid offers cost advantages. The move aligns with recent hires and strategic focus on European markets. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
The Advertiser
a day ago
- Health
- The Advertiser
Residents forced to pay for 'forever chemicals' clean-up at local rubbish tip
Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia. But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes. Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27. Levels were higher in older people and in males. But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents. Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored. In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year. The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said. And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price. "Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission. "It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years." Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle". He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW. "The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said. Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission. But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS. It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said. In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW. Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag. "The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products. "I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said. "PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage." Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025. "Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said. "In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do." The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025. Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia. But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes. Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27. Levels were higher in older people and in males. But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents. Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored. In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year. The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said. And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price. "Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission. "It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years." Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle". He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW. "The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said. Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission. But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS. It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said. In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW. Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag. "The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products. "I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said. "PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage." Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025. "Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said. "In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do." The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025. Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia. But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes. Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27. Levels were higher in older people and in males. But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents. Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored. In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year. The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said. And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price. "Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission. "It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years." Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle". He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW. "The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said. Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission. But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS. It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said. In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW. Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag. "The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products. "I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said. "PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage." Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025. "Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said. "In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do." The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025. Ratepayers and communities could be forced to pay for the clean up of their local tips, or build new ones, to prevent PFAS "forever chemicals" leaching into waterways, a rural council has warned. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) include about 4000 chemicals used in a vast array of everyday products, most infamously fire-fighting foam - a practice now being banned in Australia. But they are also found in some cosmetics, sunscreen, dental floss, non-stick cookware, insecticides, packaging, industrial sticky tapes, as well as stain and water protection in carpets, furniture and clothes. Three types of PFAS have been detected in the blood of more than 85 per cent of Australians aged over 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found in new data released on May 27. Levels were higher in older people and in males. But one rural council says authorities are foisting the clean up, monitoring and management of PFAS in waste onto local governments - and, therefore, residents. Blayney Shire Council's local tip in the NSW Central West has been operating for about 100 years and PFAS has been found in landfill as well as a nearby community water bore used for livestock during drought - at levels above those acceptable to the state Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The bore is temporarily closed and some landfilling paused while levels are monitored. In a late submission to a PFAS contamination parliamentary inquiry, the council said an initial investigation into the issue would cost $90,000, while ongoing monitoring would be at least $20,000 per year. The bill for on-site treatment of run-off from the tip to remove PFAS would be more than $400,000, Blayney mayor Bruce Reynolds said. And ratepayers would ultimately pay the price. "Council has now been forced in its 2025-2026 operational plan to increase charges on domestic waste consumers by approximately 22 per cent," he said in the submission. "It seems unreasonable that a small rural council operating a very small landfill must pay the price for what is a societal issue that has existed in excess of 50 years." Mr Reynolds said this was "completely at odds with the polluter pays principle". He described the approach as a "perverse outcome" that should be addressed by government while it considered the wider impact on councils and residents across NSW. "The impacts of allowing the products to be used for decades should not be borne by small communities," he said. Landfilling has been temporarily suspended at part of the Blayney site and the EPA was pushing to have it permanently closed, Mr Reynolds wrote in his submission. But the EPA said the new environment protection licence conditions imposed on Blayney were not related just to PFAS. It was "requiring the council to undertake detailed investigations to assess potential on and offsite impacts of a variety of pollutants, including PFAS", a spokesperson for the authority said. In fact, the EPA was looking at introducing PFAS monitoring to all landfill licences across NSW. Mr Reynolds said a new landfill site built to modern standards in Blayney could come with a $1 million price tag. "The burden placed on small councils operating landfills in dealing with a product that is still common in society is quite disproportionate and flies in the face of the polluter pays principle," he wrote. NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is chairing the inquiry into PFAS contamination, said she was not surprised councils and utilities were asking for help to phase out PFAS in household products. "I think this going to be huge, to be honest, in terms of the PFAS in sewage as well as landfill," she said. "PFAS is in so many products and is, therefore, making its way into landfill and down our toilets and into sewage." Places like Minnesota in the USA had banned certain household goods containing PFAS, such as packaging, cosmetics and baby products, from the beginning of 2025. "Councils are right to be concerned about the cost," Ms Faehrmann said. "In the short term it's very difficult to work out what to do." The NSW parliamentary inquiry is due to report by August 20, 2025.
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This PFA is for you: Surprising amount of ‘forever chemicals' found in some American beers, study finds
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.
