PFAS, toxic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other serious health problems, were detected in all produce samples tested in a new study of vegetables purchased from Long Island farms, alarming researchers and environmental advocates who say the results point to a broader contamination problem in soil, water and food.
“This is not an agricultural issue. This is a social issue,” Adrian Esposito, executive director of the Citizens’ Campaign for the Environment, said during a Zoom presentation about the study Thursday. “We’re not blaming the farmers.”
Throughout his presentation, Esposito emphasized that farmers did not cause the pollution and that changing agricultural practices cannot solve pollution.
The study tested 23 samples of carrots, romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, and beets purchased from eight farms in the North and South Forks during summer 2025. Two of the farms were organic and six were conventional. Researchers said all samples contained detectable levels of PFAS. PFAS are a class of synthetic chemicals that have been used for decades in products designed to withstand water, oil, and dirt.
PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not easily break down in the environment. Kyla Bennett, director of science and policy at the Civil Service for Environmental Responsibility, said these chemicals share very strong carbon and fluorine bonds, which makes them highly persistent and can accumulate in the environment and in humans.
Bennett said PFAS have been used for decades in nonstick pots, carpets, waterproof clothing, food packaging and many other everyday items. As a result, chemicals migrated into wastewater, septic systems, soil, water, and ultimately into the food chain.
He said studies have shown that certain PFAS are associated with kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, miscarriage, preeclampsia and effects on child development. High levels of PFAS in the blood could weaken the vaccine response, he said.
Researchers said carrots had the highest concentrations of any produce tested. “PFOS and GenX in carrots were significantly higher than what we observed in other vegetables,” said Kevin Schaefer, senior research support specialist at Stony Brook University’s Water Purification Technology Center.
He noted that the research team found all four compounds in carrots exceeded the EPA’s daily reference dose levels. In lettuce, three compounds exceeded those levels. Three were similarly detected in beets, but the overall concentrations were generally lower than in carrots.
The produce was collected using PFAS-free gloves and containers and delivered the same day to a laboratory in Stony Brook, where it was frozen, processed and analyzed, researchers said.
Esposito said the findings were alarming, but stressed that the study was small and aimed to first determine whether PFAS can be detected in locally grown produce.
“This was a small study,” she said. “This was meant to be a sample to see if something was going on and if there were any concerns.”
Still, she said the findings shouldn’t be seen as a problem unique to Long Island.
“This is not a Long Island problem,” Esposito said. “This is an American problem.”
This broad claim goes beyond the Long Island study itself, which did not identify the source of the contamination and was limited in size. But panelists said the findings are consistent with other evidence that PFAS contamination is widespread in the environment.
Stephen Lasee, an environmental toxicologist at Lasee Research & Consulting, said PFAS can enter vegetables through multiple routes, including contaminated soil, irrigation water, air deposition, fertilizers, pesticides and biosolids. He said the study could not determine which pathway was responsible for the contamination found in the Long Island samples.
Panelists repeatedly warned against blaming farmers.
“This is not about agricultural practices. This is not about farmers,” Esposito said. “This particular chemical is very insidious. This chemical is everywhere in our environment, and it’s not the result of practices done by farmers.”
Esposito also said that in this small sample, there were no significant differences between produce grown on organic and conventional farms.
Bennett said consumers have little power to remove PFAS from food once contamination is present. She urged people not to stop eating their vegetables, saying washing and cooking produce would not solve the problem.
“There is no escape from this situation at this point,” she said.
Instead, consumers can reduce their exposure to PFAS in other ways, including using certified water filters and avoiding products made with PFAS, panelists said. But Bennett and Esposito said the real solution should come through regulation, not individual choice.
“This should be an EPA issue,” Bennett said, urging federal regulators to tackle PFAS as a class rather than one chemical at a time and ban non-essential uses.
Esposito pointed to pending state legislation that would ban the use of PFAS in a variety of consumer products, including textiles, rugs, cookware, architectural paints, ski wax, children’s products, anti-fog sprays and wipes, dental floss and cleaning products.
Panelists also said the U.S. lacks legally enforceable standards for PFAS in food, leaving regulators and consumers without clear standards for what level of contamination in produce is acceptable.
To support their argument that the problem extends far beyond Long Island, speakers pointed to a 2023 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation rural soil survey that found PFOS in 97% of topsoil samples and PFOA in 76% of samples collected from remote areas of the state.
Scientists do not agree that all PFAS compounds pose the same level of danger, but improved testing can now detect these chemicals at much lower levels than before. But federal health and environmental officials say there is strong evidence that some of the widely studied PFAS are dangerous and that the contamination is truly widespread.
Esposito said the study should be seen as an early warning and a call for more research and stronger regulation.
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