Chemicals known to cause health issues in humans have been found in the blood of Tasmania’s little penguins.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of chemicals that resist heat, stains, grease and water, and these chemicals are turning up all over Tassie’s coastline.
Mel Wells, a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania’s School of Natural Sciences and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), took samples from little penguin colonies around lutruwita/Tasmania.
“I had 17 sites here where I looked at soil and I found PFAS in all of them except one,” she told Mel Bush on Tasmania Mornings.
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