Submitted by Ava Sheftick (via Great Grandpa Doug)
At an elevation of 27,600 feet researcher Mariusz Potocki was on a mission to gather snow and ice samples at the summit. His team stopped at what is known as “the balcony” where the snow was littered with feces, oxygen bottles, and other garbage. Therefore, he had to go to a lower part of the snow where he could collect bottles of cleaner snow.
However, this “cleaner” snow actually contained toxic chemicals known as PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluorinated substances. These are a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. These include clothing, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, heat-resistant non-stick cooking surfaces, and the insulation of electrical wire. Additionally, there are several concerns associated with these chemicals. They do not break down in the environment, can move through soils to contaminate drinking water, and build up in fish and wildlife. Thus, this is why they are referred to as “forever chemicals.”
There was a similar study in 2019 by Miner called the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition. It was conducted to show that our chemical fingerprints are left at even the highest elevations in the world. Their research team conducted the solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to identify these chemicals.
14 PFAS compounds tested for, they found perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, and perfluorohexanoic acid in Mt. Everest snow and meltwater.
Figure 1. perflurooctanesulfonic acid
Figure 2. perfluorooctanoic acid
Figure 3. perfluorohexanoic acid
These PFAS can lead to health effects. Such as increased cholesterol, changes in liver enzymes, and an increased risk of testicular or kidney cancer.
Cyclone Fani, was a tropical cyclone that hit India. Due to this cyclone, 10 inches of fresh snow were dropped during the expedition. Miner’s colleague Clifford took samples and they showed no PFAS. However, the findings suggest that the high levels of PFAS were not from atmospheric deposition. Instead, it appeared that they had been distributed from the gear of climbers in which they are treated to be weatherproof.
In other researchers’ samples microplastics were found. These plastics are extremely tiny (less than 5mm) and contain polyester fibers that are most likely from climbers clothing and equipment.
Overall, this article works to demonstrate how human action has an effect at even what we deem to be the top of the world. The future from this article may entail looking at ways to change climbing gear so that these chemicals are not being left at the top of the mountain and damaging the humans and the environment.
Sources:
Carpenter, Murray. “'Forever Chemicals,' Other Pollutants Found around the Summit of Everest.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Apr. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/mt-everest-pollution/2021/04/16/7b341ff0-909f- 11eb-bb49-5cb2a95f4cec_story.html.
Napper, Imogen E., et al. “Reaching New Heights in Plastic Pollution—Preliminary Findings of Microplastics on Mount Everest.” One Earth, vol. 3, no. 5, 2020, pp. 621–630., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.10.020.
Resnick, Brian, and Sean Collins. “Cyclone Fani: What We Know.” Vox, Vox, 3 May 2019, https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/5/3/18528079/cyclone-fani-what-we- know-category-4.
Your title is effective and provocative. Your graphics might be a little intimidating for the general reader but do make it clear that there is a lot of F in these chemicals. The illustration on microplastics is instructive. Your opening paragraph sets the scene effectively. Overall we get the picture of a sort of chemical littering going on at the top of the world. You seem to be using three different sources. It might be helpful to be more specific about that in the text. You might say something like "Potocki's" study is describe in a Washington Post article by Murray Carpenter. Carpenter's article also describes a similar study done in 2019 called ..." The sentence about health effects should come earlier, say in the second paragraph. Overall an good post on an interesting topic.
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