PFAS detected in US beers in new study, raising safety concerns
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.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/30/beer-pfas-forever-chemicalsOpen linkView original on lemmy.world336
Comments43
Good thing the federal EPA is really taking PFAS seriously!
That was a joke, they're walking the regulations back of course.
Who on Earth is the one with none? That’s the real story here.
“…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”
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…
I'm so glad the U.S. is taking PFAS serious...oh wait.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c11265#_i24
In water, fine.. IN BEEER!!?
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!
Quite literally, they've found caves untouched for millennia that have microplastics in them. They're inescapable at this point.
It's pedantic, but PFAs & microplastics are two very different things.
The article says it was found in American beer but not in international beer
It says it was found in international beers as well
It is weird we arent stopping the use of it either, so its still leeching into the water.
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.
Trump will fix this! He will cut funding to the research so it will not be detected anymore. There, problem solved.
Exactly! He also wanted to stop testing for covid to bring down the number of covid cases, so...
Wouldn't it be more surprising if they found something that doesn't contain PFAS? At this point I'm assuming it's everywhere.
Right? If it's in drinking water, why wouldn't it also be in beer?
For those who wish to know more about the origin and spread of PFAS
https://youtu.be/SC2eSujzrUY
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.
Drinking beer may cause eternal life. Got it. Good news for a Friday!
So... it's more hazardous to drink water than beer? You son of a bitch... I'm in!
Just turn your drinking water into beer. Problem solved!
"The levels were often above some drinking water limits"
If you're worried about drinking pfas wait till you hear about what alcohol does...
Alcohol makes me feel nice. Do PFAS do that?
Great recent video by Howtown analyzing many past studies that report "1 to 2 drinks a day is healthy." TLDR any alcohol is bad for you, but a little isn't all that bad
Lembot, I see your other replys to people saying similar things. Just linking this video as its great and people reading this comment should watch it.
To be fair "having fun with friends on the weekend and enjoying a beer" is a positive thing
But yes, for health, any amount is bad
But that's good for your mental health. So where draw the line? How about everyone just do what feels good (without hurting others) and don't try to live forever.
that's my point
Alcohol is literal poison...?
The implication is that inebriation is a positive attribute of alcoholic beverages.
And heck, I suppose if I were given two choices between a poison that causes pain during the entire poisoning process, and a poison that only causes pain towards the end...I'd take the latter.
100% there is a reason you need kidneys to be able to drink it. The older I get and the fact I don't drink makes this seem almost insane to me that drinking is as popular as it is.
Nope. The general medical consensus is that there's no safe or healthy level of alcohol consumption.
But it really doesn't apart from being effective at treating social anxiety. The "health benefits" that are associated with alcohol are being disproven
Plus, any benefits it provides would still end up as a net negative health impact because of the fact that no amount is healthy.
Wait, I thought this article was about American beer...
That was a better joke 30 years ago. 40 years ago, it was hilarious.
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.
Yeungling started in 1829 when there was only 24 States. Supposedly the oldest brewery in the U.S.
Believe it or not, you don’t have to be American or live in America to drink American beer
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.
Something like this might be a solution for home use: https://cyclopure.com/dexsorb/
That or reverse osmosis
Oh wow so they found PFAS in piss?