Alarming levels of PFAS in Norwegian Arctic ice pose new risk to wildlife

A polar bear in Svalbard, Norway. ‘As a polar bear, you have exposure to toxic man made chemicals, and stresses from a changing habitat.’ Photograph: Paul Souders/Getty Images

Norwegian Arctic ice is contaminated with alarming levels of toxic PFAS, and the chemicals may represent a major environmental stressor to the region’s wildlife, new research finds.

The Oxford University-led study’s measurements of ice around Svalbard, Norway, detected 26 types of PFAS compounds, and found when ice melts, the chemicals can move from glaciers into downstream ecosystems like Arctic fjords and tundra.