ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 5, 2022
Wildlife agencies in the U.S. are finding elevated levels of a class of toxic chemicals in game animals such as deer – and that’s prompting health advisories in some places where hunting and fishing are ways of life and key pieces of the economy. Authorities have detected the high levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in deer in several states, including Maine, where legions of hunters seek to bag a buck every fall. Called “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the environment, PFAS are industrial compounds used in numerous products, such as nonstick cookware and clothing. In Maine, where the chemicals were detected in well water at hundreds of times the federal health advisory level, legislators passed a law in 2021 requiring manufacturers to report their use of the chemicals and to phase them out by 2030.