‘Forever Chemicals’ in US Drinking Water Linked to Cancer, Scientists Find

January 27, 2025 | Source: Science Alert | by Jess Cockerill

A new study has found that US communities exposed to drinking water contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ have up to 33 percent higher rates of certain cancers.

Scientists have good reason to believe a number of compounds referred to as PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are linked to cancer: they’ve already been implicated in kidney, breast, and testicular cancer, with at least one of the chemicals, PFOA, labeled as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

These chemicals were first used in consumer and industrial products in the 1940s, and though many have been replaced, PFAS unfortunately have a lasting legacy thanks to their remarkable thermal and chemical stability.

They’re in our raincoats and upholstery, food packages, non-stick pots and pans, and fire-fighting foams. As these things disintegrate and become peppered throughout our environments, they’ve wound up in our food, our drinking water, and our bodies, too.

>> Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Organic Bytes <<