The findings are reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

The qualities that make PFAS desirable for industrial uses—their durability and stability under stresses such as high heat or exposure to water, for example—also make these chemicals particularly problematic in the environment and hazardous to human and animal health, said Joseph Irudayaraj, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led the new study.