PFAS and their impact on plants and animals is a hot debate. Southeast Asia being the world’s largest textile producer, contributes greatly in water pollution through hazardous waste. PFAS are a group of persistent chemical compounds with destructive properties that affect our ecosystems. Studies show high concentrations of PFOA, a type of PFAS, coming from Bangladesh’s textile industry of which measured values exceed Europe’s limits.

The purpose of the project was to investigate how cress growth is affected by PFOA. This was achieved through cultivating cress plants on agarose gels prepared with different concentrations of the chemical.

During analysis, it was observed that cress had a delayed germination and grew significantly worse at high levels of PFOA in dependent cultivations.

PFAS are being used globally and have been shown by studies to be dangerous to human health. Although this research has been done, we did not find any studies on how plants are affected by these chemicals. From there we developed our ideas and came up with this project.