The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded over $15 million in grant funding to 10 institutions, including $1.6 million to the state University at Albany, for PFAS research.

PFAS is a group of chemicals that have been widely used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s. Known also as forever chemicals, they can build up in the environment in the human body, and are potentially harmful.

Aswin Kumar Ilango is a research scientist at UAlbany who has spent the last year working on PFAS research. Right now, he's  testing out different methods to extract PFAS from water, soil and plants. 

PFAS chemicals are widely used in the U.S., and some don’t easily degrade. They can build up in the environment and the human body.

“There are lots of PFAS chemicals in the environment. If it gets into our body, it could damage our body in a different way. I mean, it causes different diseases, for example, thyroid and plenty of cancers as well," said Ilango. 

UAlbany is the only institution in New York to receive the money, totaling $1.6 million. 

“The goal of this project is to help find solutions for the agricultural communities who have been negatively impacted by PFAS," said Yanna Liang, department chair of environmental and sustainable engineering at UAlbany. 

It’s important to understand the chemicals and their impact in agricultural plants and animals because they can potentially contaminate food supplies.

“We can provide solutions to the farmers and say, 'if this is your soil, this is the PFAS concentrations detected in the soil. And if you plant soybean or corn, and then we can give you a prediction, like how many years you need to ensure the soil is PFAS free,'" Liang said.

PFAS has run rampant in some of our communities throughout New York state, causing health and environmental concerns. Spectrum News 1 has done extensive coverage on this over the last several years, you can find those stories on the Spectrum News app.