Certain types of microbes found in the human gut can absorb toxic “forever chemicals” from their surroundings, a new study has found.

When scientists introduced the microbes into the guts of mice to “humanize” their microbiome, they found that the bacteria rapidly accumulated the compounds consumed by the mice.

These so-called forever chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), were then excreted in feces, as documented in the study, published on Tuesday in Nature Microbiology.

“Given the scale of the problem of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’, particularly their effects on human health, it’s concerning that so little is being done about removing these from our bodies,” senior author Kiran Patil, head of the toxicology unit of the University of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council, said in a statement.

Notorious........

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