As Minnesota state agencies and community partners advance strategies to prevent, clean-up, and manage per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances, the agency is learning more about their use — and identifying alternatives that would better protect communities from contamination.
The MPCA has released the first in a series of reports on industrial uses of PFAS in Minnesota. The full report, PFAS in the metal plating and finishing industry, is intended for a technical audience, but the findings are of interest to anyone concerned about PFAS pollution.
PFAS, the family of human-made chemicals that are commonly known as “forever chemicals,” are a priority for MPCA due to their widespread use and pollution found across the state and planet. The Minnesota Department of Health finds that exposure to sufficient levels of certain types of PFAS may be linked to immune suppression, liver problems, lower birth weight, certain cancers, and other health concerns. Research on health effects is ongoing.
PFAS may be best known for their use in non-stick cookware, but, as the new MPCA reports detail, PFAS are also found in thousands of other products and manufacturing processes in industrial settings. The risk for PFAS pollution extends far beyond manufacturing the chemicals themselves. An estimated 1,200 Minnesota businesses may be using PFAS. They produce a wide range of important goods, including car parts, electronics, flooring, metals, paint, plastics, soap, and many more. Each industrial application, product, and that product’s ultimate disposal represents an opportunity for PFAS to enter the environment.
“Taking a closer look at how industries in Minnesota use PFAS, understanding how PFAS pollution might happen, and exploring alternatives to PFAS within those industries are all steps toward a future without PFAS pollution,” says author and MPCA researcher Maya Gilchrist.
Gilchrist’s first report unpacks how PFAS is used in metal plating. There are numerous plating businesses operating throughout Minnesota, in our cities as well as in Greater Minnesota. These businesses might use PFAS as part of the process to make jewelry more brilliant in appearance, prevent engine corrosion, and plate other metals with nickel or chrome which has many applications — perhaps even your car’s hubcaps.
PFAS pollution from these processes can happen in unexpected ways. For example, Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis, formerly known as Lake Calhoun, was contaminated with a type of PFAS called PFOS used at a chrome plating facility in neighboring St. Louis Park. PFAS residue from the chrome plating process travelled through vents and accumulated on the facility’s roof. Rain and melting snow washed the PFAS off the roof into the stormwater system, draining into the lake. PFOS levels in Bde Maka Ska have been declining since 2013 and the lake is considered safe for swimming and boating, but PFAS continue to be found in the lake’s fish. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends eating no more than one serving of fish from Bde Maka Ska per month due to PFAS contamination.
The best way to avoid consequences like the contamination of Bde Maka Ska is to avoid PFAS altogether, whenever possible.
“Perhaps the most exciting thing about these studies is identifying alternatives to PFAS,” says Gilchrist. In many cases, a different, safer substance or process can be substituted to deliver a comparable product, greatly reducing risk of PFAS exposure to employees and the public. This is especially important as industries prepare for PFAS product bans happening in various states and countries are proposed and take effect.
Minnesota’s PFAS Blueprint recommends ending non-essential use of PFAS. The Legislature is currently considering several bills to put the state on that path, including HF1000 and SF0834. A ban on PFAS in food packaging in Minnesota begins January 2024.
As Gilchrist describes in her report, there is encouraging research underway to find PFAS-free alternatives in metal plating. While more work needs to be done before there are viable options in metal plating, the transition away from PFAS is well underway in other sectors. For instance, PFAS alternatives are quickly becoming mainstream in clothing, with major brands pledging to be PFAS-free starting next year.
Gilchrist takes a closer look at the clothing, leather, and textile industries and their use of PFAS in her next report. It is due in a few months and will be published alongside her metal plating report and other PFAS studies on the MPCA PFAS studies webpage.
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