[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: Maine’s Lobsters

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Lots of PFAS in Maine’s Lobsters

By Pat Elder 
Military Poisons
May 24, 2023


Two years after sampling lobsters for PFAS, a report released in April 2023 by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says the levels they found do not pose a risk to human health. A closer examination of the concentrations of ten PFAS compounds found in lobster tails and claws reveals otherwise.

The Maine DEP summarized their findings: “American lobster meat was analyzed for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds from 18 sites across the coast of Maine in 2021. Half of the sites had no detected perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in lobster meat. The other half, which were collected mostly in the southwestern half of the coast, had very low concentrations of PFOS that should not pose risk in human consumption of lobster meat. Nine other PFAS compounds were detected in various samples at very low concentrations.”

The state is saying everything is fine and dandy while they’re paying too much attention to one compound – PFOS - and not enough to the other nine found in the lobsters. Neither Maine nor the EPA have established regulatory levels for PFAS in lobster. 

The highest amount of PFOS found in the lobsters tested showed a concentration of 157 ppt, while the state has established Fish Tissue Action Levels (FTAL’s) for recreationally caught freshwater and estuarine finfish at 3,500 ppt. They point out that the PFOS levels in the lobster are just 4.5% of the limit for fish. 

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/lots-of-pfas-in-maines-lobsters

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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