Awkerman on Challenges Posed by “Forever Compounds”
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found in manufactured products as diverse as fast-food containers and fire-suppressant foam have been called “forever chemicals” because of their extreme persistence. What happens when the environment is contaminated by chemicals that resist degradation? What are the impacts on human and ecosystem health? Are global remediation strategies feasible? Demon Deacon Dr. Jill A. Awkerman, Wake Forest Biology Ph.D., 2006, is an author on a significant review of the PFAS problem published in Science magazine on February 4, 2022: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg9065 Jill is currently a researcher at the Gulf Ecosystem Measurement and Modeling Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development in Gulf Breeze, FL. Jill’s mentor at Wake Forest was Professor of Biology David Anderson. Their 2006 paper in Biological Conservation on the impact of fishing on waved albatross populations led to the recognition that these albatrosses are critically endangered.
Read more at https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/wildlife/waved-albatross/
The Review in Science (February 4, 2022)