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Known as “forever chemicals”,��PFAS are��from��a family of more than 12,000 man-made��compounds.

These chemicals are prized for their heat resistance and water repelling properties, and are used in cleaning products, food-packaging, non-stick pans, clothing, and fire-fighting equipment.��

Since��being discovered by the American chemical company DuPont in the 1930s, PFAS are now detectable in��the bloodstream of��almost every��human being on the planet.

Unlike��other��chemicals,��PFAS��never break down, meaning that throughout the world right now��they’re��building up in environments, plants, and��animals��on land and in the ocean.

For humans,��sitting as we do at the top of the food chain,��this means��the our diets can be an important pathway for PFAS exposure.����

“Given what we know about PFAS toxicity from other studies, these extreme accumulation rates in top predators suggest serious health risks,”��Ricolfi��says.

“This creates a cascading ecological risk: apex predators face disproportionately high exposure even in��relatively low-contaminated��environments.”��

The authors��analysed 72 different PFAS and found dramatic variation in how much concentrations magnified up the food chain.��

Some compounds – including��chemicals marketed as safer alternatives to existing products – showed even higher magnification than the chemicals they were designed to replace.��

“Urgent research into health impacts of these new chemicals is needed before they become as ubiquitous and problematic as the PFAS they're replacing,”��Ricolfi��says.��

Ricolfi��and his co-authors want to see policy changes at the international level, where toxicity is considered but not how much the chemicals��accumulate up the food chain.

The authors argue��compounds more prone to accumulation need greater scrutiny, particularly those��that are unregulated.

“Our findings demand immediate action across multiple policy fronts,”��Ricolfi��says.

The team wants to see magnification data considered by international authorities when making regulatory decisions, instead of just acute toxicity.��

They also argue authorities should urgently look at newer, unregulated chemicals prone to magnification before their use becomes widespread, particularly those that are filling the vacuum left behind by banned chemicals.

“Our findings reveal that some newer PFAS marketed as safer alternatives may replicate or even exacerbate the biomagnification consequences of legacy PFAS,” Ricolfi says.

While PFAS concentrations double, on average, at every step up the food chain, the authors note wide variation between different chemicals, with some accumulating more readily and others less so.��

Because of this the authors want to see regulations based on compound-specific information rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

The research appeared in the journal��.