US4 min(s) read
Published 16:19 15 Apr 2026 GMT
For the first time in the US, researchers have detected a group of toxic airborne particles that had previously not been found there before.
This discovery was made during a field study by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in Oklahoma's farmlands, and it could have serious consequences for environmental health.
The researchers were originally in Oklahoma to study how tiny airborne particles form and evolve.
However, what they discovered was unexpected: the first-ever airborne detection of Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCPs) in the Western Hemisphere.
These toxic organic pollutants, which have previously been found in regions such as Antarctica and Asia, had never been measured in the air over the US until now. Their findings were published in the ACS Environmental Au Journal.
"It's very exciting as a scientist to find something unexpected like this that we weren't looking for," said Daniel Katz, a CU Boulder chemistry PhD student and lead author of the study, per Science Daily.
"We're starting to learn more about this toxic, organic pollutant that we know is out there, and which we need to understand better," he added.
According to The Mirror, MCCPs are chemicals used in industries like metalworking and making products such as PVC and textiles.
These chemicals can be located in wastewater and may end up in biosolid fertilizer, which is made from sewage sludge during wastewater treatment.
The researchers believe the MCCPs they detected in Oklahoma likely came from nearby fields where this type of fertilizer had been applied.
"When sewage sludges are spread across the fields, those toxic compounds could be released into the air," Katz explained. "We can't show directly that that's happening, but we think it's a reasonable way that they could be winding up in the air. Sewage sludge fertilizers have been shown to release similar compounds."
This discovery is important because MCCPs are being considered for regulation under the Stockholm Convention, an international agreement to protect human health from harmful chemicals.
MCCPs are similar to SCCPs (Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins), which have been regulated by the US EPA since 2009 because they travel long distances, last a long time in the environment, and are harmful to human health.
Researchers think that by restricting SCCPs, industries may have switched to using MCCPs, leading to their increased presence in the air.
"We always have these unintended consequences of regulation, where you regulate something, and then there's still a need for the products that those were in," said Ellie Browne, CU Boulder chemistry professor and co-author of the study. "So they get replaced by something."
MCCPs are also similar to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), known as "forever chemicals."
These chemicals, which have been used in products like non-stick cookware and firefighting foam since the 1950s, do not break down easily and build up in the environment and human bodies.
Katz noted that, like PFAS, MCCPs could have serious long-term effects.
Now that researchers have detected MCCPs in the air, the next step is to study how their levels change over time and how they affect human health and the environment.
"We identified them, but we still don't know exactly what they do when they are in the atmosphere, and they need to be investigated further," Katz said.
"I think it's important that we continue to have governmental agencies that are capable of evaluating the science and regulating these chemicals as necessary for public health and safety," he added.
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