Overview

Persistent chemicals, often referred to as forever chemicals, represent one of the most fundamental challenges facing modern environmental and health sciences. Their exceptional stability means that they hardly degrade, spread globally, and remain in the environment and the human body for long periods of time. This means that they elude traditional toxicological assessment models, which are primarily focused on acute effects and short-term exposure. This book offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of forever chemicals with a particular focus on PFAS. It combines chemical fundamentals with environmental distribution, bioaccumulation, and toxicokinetics, as well as the current evidence on health effects in humans. A central focus is on immunotoxicity: based on large epidemiological studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, it is shown that persistent chemicals can measurably influence the function of the human immune system, in particular through a weakened vaccine response in cases of chronic low-dose exposure. Beyond the scientific perspective, the work analyzes international agreements, European and national regulatory approaches, the precautionary principle, and economic and technological aspects of dealing with persistent substances. It makes clear why classic single-substance assessment is reaching its limits and why substance group regulation, long-term monitoring, and preventive substance design are becoming increasingly important. Bremen University Press has published over 5,000 specialist books in various languages since 2005. January 2026

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9783691736274

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