New Study: Chemical fire suppressants linked to heavy metal contamination
The widespread use of certain chemical or synthetic fire suppressants may be leading to heavy metal contamination in wildfire-prone areas, a new study has found. … In an investigation of a range of these products, published Wednesday in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the researchers found that several contained high levels of at least one metal, including chromium and cadmium. “Wildfires are associated with the release of toxic heavy metals to the environment, but until now, it was assumed that these metals came from natural sources like soil,” senior author Daniel McCurry, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, said in a statement. “We now know that fire retardants may contribute to these metal releases.”
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