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Detectaron “químicos eternos” en pingüinos de la Patagonia: qué implica el hallazgo, según los científicos
Los PFAS (sustancias per y polifluoroalquílicas) son compuestos artificiales que están en todas partes: en las sartenes antiadherentes, en los envases de comida rápida, en la ropa impermeable y en las espumas que usan los bomberos para apagar incendios. El problema es que no se descomponen, ni en el agua ni en el suelo, y por eso llevan el apodo de “químicos eternos”.
En los seres humanos, su exposición se vincula con daños al sistema inmune, alteraciones de tiroides y mayor riesgo de ciertos tipos de cáncer. Ahora, un grupo de investigadores de Argentina y Estados Unidos confirmó que estos compuestos llegaron a la costa de Chubut, en la Patagonia argentina, donde anidan colonias de pingüinos de Magallanes.
En el estudio, publicado en la revista Earth: Environmental Sustainability, reportaron la detección de PFAS en el 90,7% de las bandas de silicona analizadas, en una región con menos de dos habitantes por kilómetro cuadrado.
“Hicimos el monitoreo en las zonas donde los pingüinos se alimentan en un período específico del año cuando están criando a sus pichones”, resaltó la científica argentina Marcela Uhart, coautora y directora del Programa para América Latina del Centro Karen Drayer de la Universidad de California en Davis, en diálogo con Infobae.
Para hacer el estudio, los investigadores colocaron bandas de silicona en las patas de las aves. Eso les permitió medir la exposición externa por contacto y no la acumulación interna de sustancias en sangre u órganos.
El equipo estuvo formado por investigadores de la Universidad Estatal de Nueva York en Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) y de la Universidad de California en Davis en los Estados Unidos. También colaboraron científicos del Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos y el Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos del Conicet y la Coordinación Regional de Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria del SENASA de Argentina.
Los investigadores colocaron pequeñas bandas de silicona en la pata de 55 pingüinos durante tres temporadas de cría consecutivas, entre 2022 y 2025. Cada ave portó la banda solo entre 2 y 9 días.
Los trabajos de campo se hicieron en dos colonias de pingüinos de la costa de Chubut que están separadas por unos 490 kilómetros: San Lorenzo, la más grande de la especie con más de 200.000 parejas reproductoras, y Cabo Dos Bahías, una colonia más pequeña con menos de 9.800 parejas.
Las bandas funcionan como “esponjas químicas”: absorben los contaminantes del entorno que el animal frecuenta —el nido, la costa y el mar— durante el tiempo que permanecen puestas.
Los investigadores analizaron las bandas colocadas en las aves con una técnica llamada cromatografía líquida acoplada a espectrometría de masas en tándem, que permite identificar compuestos químicos aun en concentraciones muy bajas. El método ya había sido usado en humanos, perros, gatos y anfibios, pero esta fue la primera vez que se aplicó en aves marinas silvestres.
Las bandas se ajustaron al tobillo de cada animal con al menos 2 a 3 milímetros de margen para no limitar sus movimientos, y colocarlas y retirarlas tomó entre uno y dos minutos por ave, sin causarles dolor ni estrés visible. Hasta ahora la única forma de medir la exposición a contaminantes en aves silvestres era a través de muestras de sangre o plumas.
“Las muestras tradicionales, como sangre y plumas, reflejan principalmente los contaminantes que los pingüinos incorporan a través de su dieta. Las bandas de silicona, en cambio, registran la exposición acumulada en todos los entornos que el animal frecuenta: el nido, la costa y el mar, con independencia de las presas específicas que consuma. Miden la contaminación del ambiente del pingüino, no la de su alimento”, aclaró Uhart.
Resaltó que eligieron el período de crianza de pichones porque “en esa etapa los pingüinos regresan casi a diario a la colonia para alimentar a sus crías, lo que garantizó la recuperación de las bandas para su análisis en el laboratorio”.
El análisis detectó un total de nueve compuestos PFAS: cinco de uso industrial anterior al año 2000 —llamados “heredados”— y cuatro de nueva generación, desarrollados como sustitutos de los primeros.
Entre los heredados apareció el PFOS, una sustancia que Argentina prohibió en 2019 en cumplimiento de la Convención de Estocolmo sobre Contaminantes Orgánicos Persistentes, y que aun así se detectó en el 13% de las muestras entre 2022 y 2024.
El compuesto emergente 6:2 FTS, que está asociado al uso de espumas contra incendios, no apareció en ninguna muestra de la temporada 2022/2023, pero llegó al 100% de detección en Cabo Dos Bahías durante 2024/2025, con una tendencia de aumento tanto en frecuencia como en concentración a lo largo del estudio.
Diana Aga, profesora distinguida del Departamento de Química de SUNY Buffalo y autora principal, advirtió que la presencia del compuesto HFPO-DA, uno de los sustitutos de nueva generación, y de otros PFAS de reemplazo demuestra que estos compuestos no se quedan cerca de sus fuentes industriales sino que alcanzan ecosistemas remotos.
La científica señaló que eso genera preguntas sobre si los sustitutos diseñados como alternativas más seguras son realmente menos persistentes.
Una de las muestras registró una concentración de PFOS de 16,23 nanogramos por gramo de silicona, muy por encima del promedio general de 2,26 ng/g. Los investigadores indicaron que el origen de esa exposición puntual es desconocido, pero que el dato sugiere la existencia de focos localizados de contaminación en el mar patagónico.
La doctora Uhart sostuvo en la entrevista con Infobae que el estudio estudio indica que “se puede considerar a los pingüinos como detectives de su entorno, ya que ellos registran lo que hay en su ambiente».
“Los pingüinos indican de esta manera lugares en el mar donde valdría la pena monitorear en profundidad, ya que aquí solo registramos lo que ellos han detectado en sus viajes en procura de alimento para sus pichones”, agregó.
A partir de los resultados, sugirieron que futuras investigaciones combinen ambos métodos para avanzar en la evaluación de riesgos.
“Vamos a probar la misma técnica en cormoranes imperiales que se alimentan en áreas distintas que los pingüinos y además bucean, en general entre 20 y 30 metros», concluyó Uhart.
Pingüinos de Magallanes,Patagonia argentina,fauna,aves,naturaleza,conservación,vida silvestre,Argentina,animales,aves marinas
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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is doubling down on his bill that would strip the tax-exempt status of individuals and organizations that funnel funds to nonprofits engaging in political violence as the Justice Department probes the finances of far-left financier Neville Roy Singham.
Fox News Digital learned that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the investigation by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton into the financial workings of a network of nonprofits funded by Singham.
«I’ve long said that Democrat billionaires are funding left-wing political violence to push anti-American and foreign-aligned interests through tax-exempt entities,» Cruz told Fox News Digital. «The DOJ is absolutely right to investigate Neville Roy Singham’s funding network, which has been critical in bankrolling those efforts.»
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds a press conference with families who lost loved ones in the January 29, 2025 DCA plane crash on December 15, 2025 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The bipartisan press conference addressed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) language, which changes military airspace policy. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
PROBE INTO ‘SUBVERSIVE’ ANTI-AI SINGHAM NETWORK IS ‘ENORMOUS,’ FORMER TREASURY ADVISOR SAYS
In March, Cruz introduced the Stop Proxy Organizations Nurturing Subversive Operations and Riots Act, or SPONSOR Act, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code to expand the liability of 501(c)(3) nonprofits for the groups they fund or sponsor. Under the legislation, such nonprofits would be criminally and civilly liable for violations of the law by their sponsored entities.
Critics allege that nonprofits in the Singham network use fiscal sponsorships so projects can avoid detection by law enforcement agencies and tax authorities. Cruz said he introduced the SPONSOR Act to «give law enforcement the tools they need to follow the money, close these loopholes and enforce accountability.»
According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham, a U.S. tech tycoon now living in Shanghai, has funneled $278 million into the broad network of nonprofits since 2017. The nonprofits regularly mobilize agitators for demonstrations across the country, including anti-ICE protests and anti-Israel protests, Fox News Digital has reported.
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Singham hasn’t responded to repeated requests for comment that Fox News Digital has sent him over the past several months.
Singham routed his financial contributions through Goldman Sachs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc., a donor-advised fund, including $22.44 million to People’s Forum Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit hub for far-left activity in Manhattan.
People’s Forum is connected to a slew of proxy organizations, such as Venceremos Brigade, a controversial organization that has worked with Cuban government officials for decades to bring American activists to Cuba for political and labor solidarity work. The donation page for the Venceremos Brigade identifies it as a fiscally-sponsored project of the People’s Forum.
The People’s Forum Inc. set up signs in Union Square to protest the war with Iran in New York, N.Y., on Saturday, March 7, 2026. The signs are marked with the website for the Party for Socialism and Liberation. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
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ICE Out of New York, which is known for rallying agitators to protest ICE operations, also hosts events at the People’s Forum and has participated in a number of demonstrations with People’s Forum coordinators.
Cruz chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, which oversees grants to the Justice Department and is responsible for the regulation of the court system. The committee regularly holds hearings with Justice Department officials.
«Loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code allow radical groups to use tax-exempt funds to bankroll violent, anti-American activity opaquely and therefore with impunity,» Cruz said in a statement when the bill was introduced. «The violence that has spread in recent years in our cities and on our college campuses is not organic. It is enabled by funding from well-resourced organizations that exploit such loopholes, including and especially through fiscal sponsorships.»
The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, and the House version was introduced by Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas.
«Congress has a duty to safeguard the integrity of our nonprofit system and ensure our tax laws are not exploited by extremist or radical groups operating in the shadows,» Moran said in a statement when the legislation was introduced.
Cruz is joined by a host of GOP lawmakers who have criticized Singham’s pro-CCP influence in the U.S., with Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, going as far as to call Singham a «traitor.»
Banks sat down with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, where he said that Singham’s nonprofit network poses a threat to the country. He highlighted CodePink, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that Banks said has targeted and confronted him directly on Capitol Hill.
Property records show a nonprofit funded by tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham purchased a Manhattan building for $5.15 million as part of operations under congressional scrutiny. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital; Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for V-Day)
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Fox News Digital has identified direct funding from Singham to CodePink, which Singham’s wife Jodie Evans co-founded.
«Neville Singham is a traitor to our country. He has ties to the CCP,» Banks said. «He is an American citizen, but all of his loyalties lie with the Chinese Communist Party. And when you begin to untangle the web of his massive fortune and his philanthropic activities, the money that he sends to left-wing groups in America, and not just groups that espouse ideologies, but espouse violence.»
politics, fox news investigates, tom steyer, ted cruz, congress
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Democratic senate candidate called for mass release of criminals during prison abolition webinar
Abdul El-Sayed joins prison abolition webinar
Michigan Democratic Senate Abdul El-Sayed joined a webinar in 2020 where he discussed his support for letting people out of prison. (Credit: YouTube/Carceral State Project – Sept. 4, 2020)
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Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat running for Senate in Michigan, has stated that «we need to be investing» in «any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons,» in a recording reviewed by Fox News Digital.
El-Sayed joined a convicted murderer and a registered sex offender in September 2020 to speak at a webinar hosted by the University of Michigan’s Carceral State Project where he argued that the incarceration of criminals was a sign that «society has failed to deal with real problems» and, to address this, criminals should be set free.
While part of El-Sayed’s argument hinged on the notion that overcrowded prisons posed a public health risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, he endorsed continuing to let people out of correctional facilities even after the pandemic passed. His comments came at the height of the defund the police movement, when violent crime spiked and Democratic-led cities made moves to cut their police forces.
El-Sayed, who has aligned himself with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, is a leading candidate in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. On the campaign trail, he has promised to be critical of Israel and expand welfare programs if elected.
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stands with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after speaking at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026, in Detroit. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
«There are so many ways that society has failed to deal with real problems and has used policing and jails as a stopgap for all of these failures,» El-Sayed told the panel. «We’ve got policies … which basically force people into jail because they’re poor … we’ve got to think about all of them systematically but any and all efforts to get people out of jails and prisons and to keep people out of jails and prisons is policy that we need to be investing in particularly right now … this doesn’t end when the pandemic’s over.»
The American Friends Service Committee, which was also involved in hosting the webinar, advertised it as an opportunity to discuss «the road to decarceration and abolition with Abdul El-Sayed,» using the hashtags #FreeThemAll and #AbolishPrison to promote the event.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported on the resurfaced comments. El-Sayed appeared alongside a sex offender and a woman convicted of second-degree murder, according to the Free Beacon.
«When I was asked to participate in the webinar you’re writing about I did not know Dr. El-Sayed and I still don’t, except for what I see on TV,» Martin Vargas, the sex offender, told Fox News Digital. «I don’t follow him nor am associated with his political campaign.»
Vargas stated that he was almost certain El-Sayed was unaware of his past before agreeing to appear on the webinar.
MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED TAKES HEAT FOR KHAMENEI COMMENTS, HASAN PIKER EVENT
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed poses for a portrait in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (Evan Cobb for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
El-Sayed is locked in a heated Democratic primary to win the Democratic nod to run for Michigan’s open Senate seat in November. He is widely viewed as the most progressive of the three major candidates, raising electability concerns with some leaders in the party, NOTUS reported.
«Abdul El-Sayed cannot win a general election in Michigan, full stop,» a longtime Democratic strategist previously told Fox News Digital. «This is a candidate who spent years calling police ‘standing armies we deploy against our own people,’ posted more than a dozen times in support of defunding the police, and then deleted his entire social media history the moment he decided to run statewide, hoping Michigan voters wouldn’t notice. They will notice. And so will Mike Rogers.»
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE CLAIMS ISRAEL ‘JUST AS EVIL’ AS HAMAS
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a coronavirus public health roundtable with Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont and 2020 presidential candidate, not pictured, in Romulus, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, March 9, 2020. (Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As alluded to by the Democratic strategist, El-Sayed deleted social media posts he made during the COVID-19 era in which he endorsed defunding the police, an idea once in vogue among Democrats that has since become far more controversial.
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«The last thing we have to remember is that jails and policing in America are like the ‘duct tape’ that people bring out to fix all the other broken systems,» El-Sayed said near the end of the webinar. «If we’re serious about fixing policing and, or rethinking policing, and fixing the mass incarceration system then we’ve got to fix all the broken problems that lead to them, right, where we’re then applying the ‘duct tape’ that is so corrosive to the lives of so many people.»
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital.
blue city crime, politics, michigan, senate elections, midterm elections
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