A group of chemicals known as PFAS have become a growing concern for human health, agriculture and the environment. Because they resist breaking down, these \u201cforever chemicals\u201d can accumulate in soil, water and food systems and expose people to a range of adverse health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From nonstick cookware and disposable tableware to everyday items like toothbrushes, these oil- and water-repellent chemicals became widespread in the late 20th century. Today, communities across the country are grappling with the residue they\u2019ve left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maine has emerged as a national leader in responding to PFAS contamination, advancing policies aimed at protecting farms, ecosystems and public health. Researchers at the 91±¬ΑΟ are working to understand how PFAS moves through soil, crops and livestock; develop technologies to break it down; and design sustainable materials that could replace it in everyday products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this episode of \u201cThe Maine Question\u201d<\/a> podcast, host Ron Lisnet speaks with 91±¬ΑΟ researchers Jean MacRae, Christina Murphy, Caroline Noblet and Rachel Schattman about how their work, spanning engineering, economics, agriculture and conservation biology, is helping communities confront PFAS and chart a cleaner path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Google Podcasts<\/a>, SoundCloud<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube<\/a> or \u201cThe Maine Question\u201d website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What topics would you like to learn more about? What questions do you have for 91±¬ΑΟ experts? Email them to mainequestion@maine.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n PFAS<\/a> \/ Research<\/a> \/ School of Food and Agriculture<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A group of chemicals known as PFAS have become a growing concern for human health, agriculture and the environment. Because they resist breaking down, these \u201cforever chemicals\u201d can accumulate in soil, water and food systems and expose people to a range of adverse health conditions. From nonstick cookware and disposable tableware to everyday items like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2406,"featured_media":7805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[43,49,389,92,91,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-economics","category-pfas","category-recreation-and-land-use","category-soils","category-wildlife"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Agriculture"},{"value":49,"label":"Economics"},{"value":389,"label":"PFAS"},{"value":92,"label":"Recreation and Land Use"},{"value":91,"label":"Soils"},{"value":59,"label":"Wildlife"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/98\/2026\/03\/Maine-Question-Podcast-rectangle-thumbnail-768x432-1.jpg",768,432,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"lhecker","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/author\/lhecker\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":43,"name":"Agriculture","slug":"agriculture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":62,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":43,"category_count":62,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Agriculture","category_nicename":"agriculture","category_parent":44},{"term_id":49,"name":"Economics","slug":"economics","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":49,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":14,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":49,"category_count":14,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Economics","category_nicename":"economics","category_parent":44},{"term_id":389,"name":"PFAS","slug":"pfas","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":389,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":7,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":389,"category_count":7,"category_description":"","cat_name":"PFAS","category_nicename":"pfas","category_parent":44},{"term_id":92,"name":"Recreation and Land Use","slug":"recreation-and-land-use","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":92,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":17,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":92,"category_count":17,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Recreation and Land Use","category_nicename":"recreation-and-land-use","category_parent":44},{"term_id":91,"name":"Soils","slug":"soils","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":91,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":5,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":91,"category_count":5,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Soils","category_nicename":"soils","category_parent":44},{"term_id":59,"name":"Wildlife","slug":"wildlife","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":59,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":44,"count":32,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":59,"category_count":32,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Wildlife","category_nicename":"wildlife","category_parent":44}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7806,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7802\/revisions\/7806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mafes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}