Miriam Bergeret is a science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. Miriam holds a master's degree in laboratory medicine and pathobiology from the University of Toronto, where she also studied science journalism and communication.
New research on"forever chemicals" called PFAS has added to growing concerns about their potential effects on human health.
Current estimates suggest that nearly 15,000 different PFAS have been invented, and more continue to be developed. "We found that most of the PFAS we included in our study can absorb into human skin," Oddný Ragnarsdóttir, who led the study as part of her doctorate at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Live Science. At this point, though, it's unclear what doses of PFAS people would realistically be exposed to via skin contact, and how harmful those doses are.
As a result, in 2023, the IARC classified PFOA as"carcinogenic to humans" and PFOS as"possibly carcinogenic to humans." The agency's classifications aren't related to how much a substance might increase cancer risk but rather how conclusively the IARC can say it causes cancer at all. In that respect, the evidence is stronger for PFOA than for PFOS.Studies also suggest that PFAS might affect reproductive health.
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