"A mostly Pennsylvania-based study of smallmouth bass, a popular gamefish, found that the family of chemicals known PFAS — officially called per– and polyfluoroalkyl substances — do build up in parts of the fish. Those parts are not normally eaten, though, making them safe for the dinner plate.

But the examination of 380 adult smallmouth bass also found significant levels of PFAS in those collected from waters that flow through farmland.

Researchers had expected to find the chemicals near military bases, airports and in industrial and urban areas. And they did. But they did not expect to find significant contamination in undeveloped areas, especially agricultural areas.

Though researchers stress that follow-up research is necessary, they suspect PFAS are running off farm fields and into waterways from the use of pesticides and the application of biosolids from sewage treatment plants that are used as fertilizer.

The use of livestock manure as fertilizer may also be sending PFAS into creeks and rivers if the livestock are eating forage grown on contaminated soil, said Vicki Blazer, the USGS fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who led the study..."