This report provides an overview of STEEP’s Year 4 progress through research that aims to better understand the pathways of PFAS contamination from entry into the environment through groundwater contamination, dispersal through the food web, and distribution to vulnerable human populations during early development, in part through breast milk. It also highlights the ongoing work of the STEEP projects and cores in preparing the next generation of interdisciplinary emerging contaminant researchers. The report highlights ways in which STEEP cores translate scientific findings generated by STEEP projects for internal and external stakeholders, and engage Cape Cod study site communities on the front lines of PFAS exposure through contaminated drinking water. The report also addresses an epidemiological cohort study in the Faroe Islands, a STEEP study site in a North Atlantic fishing community where early-life exposures to persistent environmental pollutants, such as PFAS, have been linked to immunotoxicity, obesity, and related metabolic conditions.
