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Even if you’re not familiar with the details, you’re probably familiar with the term “permanent chemicals.” These are a class of about 16,000 man-made compounds called PFAS that break down very slowly, if at all, in the environment and in our bodies. Although these are very useful, they also pose a potential danger to wildlife and human health. After more than 80 years of widespread and often unrestricted use, PFAS contamination is present more or less everywhere, from the soil on farms to the rain that water them. You probably have detectable amounts of these chemicals in your body.
A growing body of research shows a link between exposure to some types of PFAS and harmful effects such as kidney disease, immune dysfunction, and certain types of cancer. Even just a few percent of certain forms that accumulate over time are enough to be harmful. Moreover, exposure is more or less inevitable. Omitting oil-resistant packaging or filtering tap water may limit acute exposure, but there are many other routes of contamination. In any case, it’s already too late for most of us.
How did this happen? To some extent, society is reaping what it has sown by allowing the release of so many new chemicals without proper systems to first test them for safety. This has to change, and not just with PFAS. Industrial chemicals can be harmful, as is the case with chemicals in some climbing shoes (see Indoor climbing wall users may be breathing in toxic rubber dust) Many times we find out too late, yet we still give permission to companies to make chemicals. To continue business as usual.
There’s nothing illegal about it. Yet the PFAS industry has been completely irresponsible. There is Good evidence that some producers have known for decades They claimed that chemicals could be harmful, but actively obscured that knowledge.
As PFAS science advances, there is optimism that PFAS can be not only replaced but also collected from the environment and destroyed. But the bill would be huge. It’s not unreasonable to ask the companies that have profited from inventing these products to pay at least some of the cost.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
