Amila DeSilva will be giving a presentation, entitled They’re Everywhere: Perfluorinated Substances in Freshwater Ecosystems, in the Chemistry Department Colloquia series. Dr. DeSilva is Research Scientist at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, Ontario,

Perfluorinated substances are produced for their highly surface active properties and are very extensively used in a wide range of applications. When applied to surfaces, they impart water and oil repellency and as such are used in food contact-paper and packaging, home furnishings, cookware, clothing, cosmetics and skin/hair products but they are also performance chemicals used in pesticide foams, fire-fighting foams, hydraulic fluid and other applications in the automotive industry. Environmentally, however, many perfluorinated substances are problematic. They rapidly disperse in the environment and are now detected all around the world from dolphins in the Ganges River of India to human babies in South Africa, from polar bears in the Arctic to oysters in Sydney Harbour, Australia.  Since preliminary research emerging in the early 2000s, we have been able to elucidate the dominant mechanisms leading to global distribution of these chemicals, their potential to magnify in food webs, and their extraordinary environmental persistence. Join me on this magic carpet (treated with perfluorinated substances for stain repellency) ride as I present a body of research findings on the fate, disposition and distribution of perfluorinated substances in freshwater ecosystems.

The seminar is free and open to the public.