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A ground-breaking new study has linked high concentrations of PFAS – also known as ‘forever chemicals’ – with health impacts and population decline in freshwater turtles. The study was led by scientists from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI). 

PFAS chemicals are used in a range of products including certain food packaging and even firefighting foams. The chemicals get released into the soil and water, and can build up in natural habitats. As part of their three-year investigation, the CSIRO and DETSI team captured, tagged and released around 350 freshwater turtles. The scientists measured the concentrations of PFAS in the turtles’ bodies and looked for possible health impacts.

To measure turtle health, the researchers used omics-based tools, which are advanced techniques that can assess thousands of molecules within an animal to find out how it has responded to a contaminant or disease. Similar to a blood test at the GP, omics-based tools give a snapshot of an animal’s metabolism – the life-sustaining chemical reactions which turn food into energy.  

David Beale, Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO, says major health impacts were observed in turtles at sites with high PFAS concentrations. “Exposure to high concentrations of PFAS impacted essential metabolic processes in the turtles sampled,” says David. “Adults had a high potential of forming gout [a metabolic disease], which is deadly in reptiles.”

PFAS chemicals also affected young turtles. “We found that eggs had altered ratios of essential minerals, and hatchlings had a high rate of defects in their shells,” says David. These health defects could seriously harm the freshwater turtle population. “We found that there was a lack of juveniles at the more contaminated sites,” reports David. “Our models predicted that over time, these impacts could result in a population collapse.” 

Despite these findings, David is optimistic that the team’s omics-based tools can help sea and land creatures alike. “This revolutionary approach has allowed researchers to draw the link between levels of PFAS contamination and impacts on animal health,” he says. “It lays the groundwork for omics-based techniques to be used in future research assessing how PFAS affects a range of biological processes in Australian wildlife.” 

Ali Burnheim was an outstanding participant in Double Helix’s Young STEM Journalism Bootcamp. This year, Double Helix partnered with Letterly to launch the inaugural 4-week program, inviting students aged 8 to 18 to write science news articles on the topics that matter to them! This article went through multiple rounds of editing with 1-to-1 feedback from Letterly’s highly qualified and passionate writing coaches. Double Helix editors provided a final edit for accuracy and style.