Researchers point to contaminated water after ‘forever chemicals’ found in all but one of 23 sampled beers

All but one of 23 beers sampled for toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” contained the compounds, new research finds, raising safety questions about one of the world’s most popular beverages.

The researchers checked craft beer from multiple states, major domestic brands, and several international labels.

When possible, they compared the measurements to Pfas levels in the county water supply where each was bottled, revealing a “strong correlation” that suggests contaminated water is driving most of the problem. The levels were often above some drinking water limits for Pfas.

  • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    18 days ago

    Good thing the federal EPA is really taking PFAS seriously!

    That was a joke, they’re walking the regulations back of course.

    • Matt@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      18 days ago

      “…international beers were less likely to have detectable PFAS or PFAS at higher levels, which may reflect the lack of or lower levels of PFAS in drinking water in these regions. The first study of PFAS in tap water in Latin America found that PFAS were not generally associated with any drinking water source in Guatemala City, the region’s largest city, which lacked PFAS manufacturing industries”

      • errer@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        PFAS are in the water cycle so I’m skeptical that any place is truly clear of them. The worst places are proximate to PFAS production sites, many of which are in the USA. Prolly not a good idea to open a brewery within 100 miles of any of those, but betting many are…

      • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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        17 days ago

        The property that makes it such a troublesome pollutant is the same reason people buy it and use it. In that respect PFAS’ are fairly critical for a lot of manufacturing and engineering problems. -We could definitely reduce our usage of it, though.

    • EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      It’s in every source of water on the planet, including people. It collects in brains and testes and other organs and we’ve been hearing about it for ages.

      But somehow it’s surprising it’s in beer and oh we gotta write an article about it!

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Trump will fix this! He will cut funding to the research so it will not be detected anymore. There, problem solved.

  • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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    17 days ago

    Wouldn’t it be more surprising if they found something that doesn’t contain PFAS? At this point I’m assuming it’s everywhere.

    • orbular@lemmy.today
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      16 days ago

      Links to the recent Veritasium video on PFAS aka forever chemicals. Describes the story of how PFAS were discovered, including interviews from the lawyer that got Du Pont to settle with the farmer, and how he continued to press the industry but they kept finding ways to weasel out of responsibility for contamination of waterways and global air. The host tests his own blood for various types of PFAS and uses online PFAS estimators to help understand that where he was living for ~10 years had higher levels in the water, which tracks to the higher levels seen in his blood. There’s still PFAS in everyday consumer products - anything slippery or waterproof. They also interview someone researching PFAS filtration. Plenty more interesting bits in the video. Worth a watch.

  • PattyMcB@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    So… it’s more hazardous to drink water than beer? You son of a bitch… I’m in!

  • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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    18 days ago

    raising safety questions about one of the world’s most popular beverages

    Wait, I thought this article was about American beer…

      • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        Fine. I’ll grant there are some good craft beers. Too much emphasis on IPAs, but once you find some that meet your taste, we do have some good ones. Yeungling Black & Tans are pretty good, and I wouldn’t even call them craft.

    • Zenith@lemm.ee
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      17 days ago

      Believe it or not, you don’t have to be American or live in America to drink American beer

  • Mrkawfee@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I bought a Lifestraw to filter water which I also use for making tea and coffee. It filters out PFAS along with micro plastics and other shit we are poisoning ourselves with. Don’t know if it would work with beer.