Texas Tech University’s Department of Civil, Environmental, & Construction Engineering has earned a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate sources and mitigation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in farming operations.
This project is part of more than $15 million in total grant funding the EPA hopes will enable 10 institutions to discover methods of reducing PFAs in food, farmland and farming communities. PFAs are a group of man-made chemicals most people in the U.S. have been exposed to through soil, air, water and food. PFAs have been widely used in industry and consumer products (such as food packaging and stain-repellent coatings) since the 1940s and are resistant to environmental and metabolic degradation.
This can lead to accumulation in the environment and organisms including humans. In the case of humans, some PFAs are associated with health impacts such as increased risks of cancers.
