Mastodawn

Penguin 'Toxicologists' Find PFAS Chemicals in Remote Patagonia

https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/penguin-toxicologists-find-pfas-chemicals-remote-patagonia

Penguin ‘Toxicologists’ Find PFAS Chemicals in Remote Patagonia

Penguins can serve as living monitors of their environment by using small, chemical-detecting leg bands, according to a study from UC Davis and SUNY-Buffalo.

UC Davis

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alex43578 1d ago

Is this going to be like the micro-plastics-are-actually-contamination-from-lab-gloves news all over again?

I'm all for removing PFAS and similar chemicals from the many places and uses they aren't needed, but if people don't care about PFAS in their tap water, they certainly aren't going to care about penguin PFAS.

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giuliomagnifico

Yes, it could be (I posted the article about the gloves), but PFAS are different from microplastics, and not all the studies are contaminated by gloves.

The interesting part here is using the animals as “scientists” to collect samples in their habitats for years (2022-2024) instead of sending humans to collect samples. This is far more reliable in my opinion