Suche
Mein Konto
Chemicals in the muffin: Berlin scientist tests PFAS on his own body!
A BfR researcher is testing PFAS in a muffin to investigate how long they stay in the human body.
Chemicals in the muffin: Berlin scientist tests PFAS on his own body!
A courageous self-experiment in Berlin is causing a stir! A scientist from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) underwent a risky experiment at 9 a.m. on a February day in 2023: He bit into a muffin that was prepared with a dangerous cocktail of 15 industrial chemicals, the so-called PFAS. These chemicals are notorious for their harmful effects on the environment and health. The scientist wanted to find out how long these substances remain in the human body and how they are excreted. A topic that has hardly been researched so far!
PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, are found in countless everyday products - from waterproof textiles to fast food packaging. They are not biodegradable and accumulate in the environment. Particularly alarming: Long-chain PFAS can persist in human blood for years and potentially impair the immune response to vaccinations. Klaus Abraham, who leads the study, explains that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has already lowered the limits for these chemicals because they are considered potentially harmful to health.
The results of the self-experiment
In his self-experiment, the scientist was observed for 450 days. The results are shocking: short-chain PFAS were quickly excreted in the urine, while long-chain variants such as PFOA and PFOS were still detectable in the body even after 450 days. Their half-lives range from nine and a half months to an incredible 5.5 years! Abraham emphasizes that these findings are crucial to understanding how PFAS behave in the human body and what health risks they pose.
The study also shows that the excretion of long-chain PFAS occurs via the gastrointestinal tract, which raises new questions: How do these chemicals enter the body, and what mechanisms are responsible? Despite the risks, the scientist felt safe during the experiment because the levels of PFAS ingested were below levels considered safe. But the urgency to learn more about the effects of these chemicals remains. The BfR is already planning further studies to investigate the kinetics of short-chain PFAS in different people.