There are signs in Michigan’s Clark’s Marsh that caution hunters and anglers against eating the game or fish they harvest there. Similar warnings are posted in Oregon’s Columbia Slough, which advise anglers to eat no more than one meal of fish from the area per month. Last fall, Maine told hunters in certain areas to throw out their venison and wild turkey. And this winter, New Mexico advised waterfowlers who’d eaten wild duck meat to visit their doctors immediately.
The danger, according to public health experts and biologists, are so-called forever chemicals that can cause cancer. (These per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances are also commonly called PFAS.) And these forever chemicals are not just in parts of Michigan and Oregon. They’re everywhere: in our soil, in our water, in your favorite outdoor gear, and around the globe from pole to pole.
Experts are clear. Hunters and anglers should think twice before eating fish and game from areas with advisories. They also say that, outside those areas with warnings, there’s still a risk of consuming wild game contaminated with PFAS. Here’s what experts recommend for anyone who hunts or fishes for their own food.
Forever Chemicals in Fish and Game
The research is still emerging, but the risk of eating wild game and fish tainted with forever chemicals is probably comparable to consuming domestic livestock, says Christopher Higgins, a civil and environmental engineering distinguished professor at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
“Certainly, there are higher amounts of contamination in some places, but every state in the country has a PFAS problem whether they acknowledge it or not,” says Higgins. “Everyone is going to be exposed to these chemicals somehow. I would not let it get in the way of enjoying nature and enjoying the fruits of your labor. But I do think we should be thinking about how we make choices about the foods we eat and products we buy.”
Studies on wild game and forever chemicals are admittedly slim, in part because forever chemicals in the mainstream are just becoming more widely known.
One 2024 paper compared PFAS concentrations in pigs, cattle, poultry, wild boar and deer in Poland and found levels in wild boar to be the highest, followed by cattle, deer, domestic pigs and poultry. The paper stated that, at least in Poland, meat from livestock and deer were likely fine. Every single sample of wild boar tested contained forever chemicals, and researchers concluded that frequently eating wild boar wasn’t the best idea. They did not put forth any theories why boars were more likely to be affected.
In 2018, state officials in Michigan found high levels of PFAS in a deer killed by hunters in the Clark’s Marsh area. In subsequent years, officials killed and tested more deer, finding significantly higher levels of PFAS in their liver samples.
“Persistent organic pollutants are ubiquitous. They’re everywhere,” she says. “And they accumulate the most in organ meat.”
This includes the liver — an organ that filters toxins from the blood, and researchers expect it to have higher concentrations of contaminates than, say, a hindquarter steak or a backstrap from that same animal.
Another consideration is where a particular species ranks in the prey vs predator relationship. As with microplastic contamination, forever-chemical research indicates that animals and fish higher in the food chain contain higher concentrations of forever chemicals.
For instance, studies show elevated amounts of forever chemicals in more predatory fish where toxins tend to accumulate, though all the fish from Lake Michigan that were tested in the study contained forever chemicals. Freshwater fish also appear to be more at risk than saltwater species. While commercial seafood and freshwater fish contain forever chemicals, they’re generally found at acceptable levels. An exception, researchers noted in that study, was whitefish, yellow perch, and walleye from the Great Lakes.
Another study of Great Lakes fish from 2023 found that eating one freshwater fish is similar to drinking water polluted with PFOS, a common forever chemical, at levels of 48 parts per trillion for a month. (No amount of forever chemicals are safe, but the maximum contaminant standard for water was established as just four parts per trillion by the EPA under the Biden Administration. The current EPA rolled back some of those standards in May, and the U.S. government has not established a maximum amount in food.)
Researchers analyzed filets from dozens of species, and found that walleye and largemouth bass contained some of the highest forever chemical levels. On average, Great Lakes fish in the studies averaged 11,800 parts per trillion of 13 common forever chemicals, or nearly 3,000 times the maximum amount commonly accepted in U.S. drinking water.
How Worried Should You Be?
Your level of concern about forever chemicals depends largely on your own risk threshold, according to exposure scientist and environmental epidemiologist Dr. Courtney Carignan, an assistant professor at Michigan State University.
“There is an attitude of, ‘I’ve been doing it this long, I’m already toast,’” Carignan says
And while she understands that feeling, she also says it’s important to pay attention to warnings offered by public health and environmental agencies. Should you stop eating all game meat, or meat in general? Not because of PFAS concerns, she and Higgins say.
Higgins has been studying PFAS for decades and acutely understands the dangers. He once was a vegetarian and returned to eating fish. He doesn’t sweat the PFAS in his fish, understanding he is likely consuming some amounts of the chemicals. Both researchers still stand by not eating organ meat from any animals — domestic or wild.
Why Are Forever Chemicals Everywhere?
In the late 1940s, DuPont created a genius solution to keeping food from sticking to our pans called Teflon. The company 3M then took those chemicals mainstream as a way to solve many product problems. The PFOS and PFOA could keep a jacket waterproof for years. Sprayed on carpet, PFAS could prevent stains, and unleashed as foam could extinguish fires almost immediately — resulting in its use at airports, oil rigs, and military bases everywhere.
Forever chemicals work so well because they’re used in coatings that repel oil and water. So they proliferated around the globe, used in most of our waterproof apparel and tents, placed in ski waxes, smothered over fires and coating many food containers.
But they don’t break down. Ever. Which is why they’re often called forever chemicals. They will likely stay intact in soil, air and water for millions of years. And worse yet, they bioaccumulate in everything from fish to humans, eventually being linked to ailments like liver and kidney disease, cancer and reproductive issues. PFAS also persist in our water. According to one 2020 study more than 200 million people in the U.S. are exposed to PFAS in their drinking water.
For decades, the general public had no idea. Then in the late 90s, a farmer in West Virginia tied his dead cows to a DuPont wastewater site. And now while companies in the U.S. have largely phased out PFOS and PFOA, two of the most harmful and widely used of the forever chemicals, they’re still found in many places.
“They stick around in our lives and products for a long time. If you pulled up a stain-repellent chair from the 1980s, you would find PFAS on it and if you wash it, it would go down the drain,” Higgins said this summer. At the time, he was driving from the Colorado School of Mines to an Air Force base in Colorado Springs, where he and a team are working on cleaning up a stormwater detention pond affected by forever-chemicals.
Rural areas in portions of the West also aren’t likely immune because the region’s military bases, oil wells, and small airports were also sources of PFAS in groundwater and on the ground itself.
We’re Cleaning Up PFAS … Right?
On one hand, production of PFOS and PFOA have largely ceased globally, which means a reduction in some of the worst PFAS. But other PFAS are still consistently being produced, and legacy chemicals continue to cycle in food and water supplies.
“It’s better than it was,” Carignan says. “But it’s certainly not solved.”
Concern over the issue spans both sides of the political aisle — the first Trump administration created a PFAS Action Plan, and the Biden administration set tougher limits on drinking water. The EPA recently delayed implementation of some of those limits while also stressing the importance of limiting PFAS pollutants. And Trump’s current EPA leader Lee Zeldin was a founding member of the PFAS Congressional Taskforce during his time in the House.
Unfortunately, while some states do monitor for PFAS, many do not, which leaves anyone worried about possible exposure in their food dependent on maps and information out of the PFAS Exchange and organizations like the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
Higgins, Carignan, and another expert at a state department of environmental quality who requested anonymity, all suggested the following: If you live in a state that doesn’t monitor for PFAS contamination, you can encourage your state to begin testing. Arkansas, for instance, announced this spring that it would begin a statewide surface water testing program.
“I get why people think, ‘Maybe I would like to go back to not knowing,’” Carignan says. “But it’s important to know because that’s how you protect yourself and your family.”
Final Thoughts on Forever Chemicals in Wild Game
Keep in mind that forever chemicals are already everywhere in our environment, so there’s no such thing as eliminating PFAS exposure. But for hunters and anglers, you can minimize your risk by skipping organ meats, paying attention to health advisory signs and warnings from your state agency, and by avoiding game and fish species that are higher up on the food chain.
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