As of: January 26, 2024, 1:55 p.m
By: Julia Volkenand
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Bad news for winter sports enthusiasts: The ski season causes ever higher levels of PFAS in the mountains, a study shows.
Aberdeen/Graz - Skiing is Bavaria's favorite winter sport, but can you spend the weekend in the mountains with a clear conscience conquering the powdery slopes?
Winter sports have long been suspected of not being particularly environmentally friendly.
Thousands of tourists traveling by car to the mountains, day trippers and artificial snow are worrying environmentalists.
A study by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and the University of Graz now seems to support the concerns.
The study found that skiers leave per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) behind when they visit the mountains.
PFAS is a large group of chemicals that are used in various industrial areas and even in the home.
One of the things that makes them popular is their water- and grease-repellent properties.
PFAS are also stable and long-lasting.
They can be found in pan coatings, dental floss and even toilet paper.
However, many of these chemicals are toxic.
They are also very difficult to break down.
The Austrian Federal Environment Agency explains: “Once all PFAS have been released into the environment, they are difficult or very difficult to remove.”
High levels of perennial chemicals (PFAS) discovered in ski resorts
According to the study from Aberdeen, 14 of these PFAS chemicals are said to be left on the slopes by skiers.
They are often used in ski waxes because of their water-repellent properties, which is how they end up in the snow.
The wax makes the skis more grippy, which is why many skiers swear by its use.
442802710.jpg © dpa/Wolf von Dewitz
Particularly striking: The chemicals were found in higher concentrations in the soil around Austrian ski resorts that are used by the general population, less for professional racing, than in areas that are used less often or not at all for skiing.
Lead researcher Viktoria Müller explains to the British Guardian that although the chemicals can occur in smaller quantities everywhere because of their widespread presence in the environment, the concentration at ski resorts is significantly higher than usual. “These chemicals are called eternal chemicals because they take hundreds of years to break down.
This allows them to accumulate or spread throughout the wider environment, including in groundwater.
That’s the main concern.”
PFAS in Austria's ski resorts - that makes the chemicals dangerous
Ski waxes containing PFAS were recently banned by several ski resorts and races due to their potential toxicity.
The eternity chemicals can have health consequences for humans.
In 2018, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that a large proportion of the population in Europe is exposed to concentrations of long-chain PFAS (PFOS and PFOA) through food that are up to 25 times the weekly tolerable dose.
It can increase cholesterol levels and impair children's immune systems.
In addition, PFAS have been linked to the development of cancer and thyroid diseases, reports the European Environment Agency.
The chemicals can also be found in different concentrations in soil and groundwater in Germany.
In total, the substances were detected in 1,500 locations by March 2023.
So far, regulating PFAS has been difficult because of the large number of different groups of substances.
However, five European countries now want to ban the production, use and import of PFAS and, for this purpose, submitted a proposal to restrict PFAS to the European Chemicals Agency in March 2023, reports Deutschlandfunk.
Germany is also there.
The proposal must first be examined.
Critics of the move criticize the massive economic consequences that such a ban could have for the industry.