- Daniel Katz and his team at CU Boulder detected airborne Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs) in Oklahoma, a first in the Western Hemisphere.
- MCCPs are persistent, bioaccumulative toxins used as flame retardants and plasticizers, similar to PFAS and banned SCCPs.
- The researchers believe the MCCPs likely originated from agricultural fields fertilized with contaminated biosolids (sewage sludge).
- This discovery highlights a pattern where banning one toxic chemical leads to its replacement with another poorly understood substitute.
- The finding carries regulatory significance as MCCPs are under review for global restriction under the Stockholm Convention.
In a startling environmental first, researchers have detected a pervasive group of industrial toxins in the American atmosphere, signaling a new frontier in air pollution concerns. Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder, conducting routine air monitoring in Oklahoma's farmlands, unexpectedly uncovered Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs) in the air, marking their first confirmed airborne presence in the Western Hemisphere.
The discovery, published in the journal ACS Environmental Au, emerged from a month of continuous data collection using a sensitive nitrate chemical ionization mass spectrometer. Lead author and CU Boulder chemistry PhD student Daniel Katz identified unusual isotopic patterns in the data, which, after extensive investigation, were linked to MCCPs.
“This recent study is significant because scientists have faced challenges in measuring MCCPs in the air across the Western Hemisphere,” the report notes. Previously, these pollutants had been found in remote regions like Antarctica and Asia, but not in the continental United States.
As noted by BrightU.AI's Enoch, MCCPs are chlorinated chemicals used as flame retardants and plasticizers, often as substitutes for banned SCCPs. They are also environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative, raising similar health and ecological concerns. While not yet globally banned under the Stockholm Convention like SCCPs, they are under review and increasingly regulated in regions like the European Union.
They often persist in wastewater and biosolid fertilizer, also known as sewage sludge, which is applied to agricultural fields. The research team believes the MCCPs detected in Oklahoma likely originated from nearby farmland where such fertilizer had been used.
New forever chemicals on the rise
The finding carries significant regulatory weight, as MCCPs are currently under evaluation for potential global restriction under the Stockholm Convention, an international treaty designed to protect human health from hazardous chemicals. Researchers suggest that earlier bans on similar compounds, Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs), may have inadvertently driven industries to substitute them with MCCPs.
Katz highlighted that MCCPs share the dangerous traits of PFAS, including high environmental persistence, resistance to degradation and a tendency to bioaccumulate in organisms, the existing crisis over PFAS in biosolids underscores the urgency of addressing such chemicals.
In states like Oklahoma, the recognition of PFAS as persistent forever chemicals, linked by the CDC to cancer, immune suppression and other serious health issues, has already driven local bans, such as in Luther and spurred the Oklahoma Senate to prohibit biosolid fertilizer.
However, the continued application of biosolids by major cities without transparency about PFAS contamination, despite evidence of their indefinite persistence in soil and water, reveals a troubling gap between accumulating scientific evidence, community advocacy and responsive governance, leaving residents exposed to ongoing environmental and public health risks.
The detection breakthrough now opens a critical path for further study. With the method proven, researchers plan to investigate how MCCP levels fluctuate over time and across regions to better understand their spread and impact.
As one of the researchers emphasized, this discovery underscores a recurring pattern in environmental health: the regulation of one known toxin often leads to the rise of another, little-understood substitute, leaving scientists and the public racing to catch up with the consequences of industrial chemical use.
Watch this video about forever chemicals being found in 2,800 U.S. city water systems.
This video is from the Truth or Consequences channel on Brighteon.com.
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