‘Forever chemicals’ are everywhere: including in you
Have you ever stopped to think about what makes your rain jacket waterproof? Or why your paper coffee cup doesn’t leak?
There’s a good chance the waterproof lining in both these products contain Per- or Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). These PFAS substances are found in many everyday products because they are very good at repelling water, oil, and heat.
“It’s a consumer driven problem in that we wanted anti-stain products, we wanted anti-stick. And we thought that these chemicals are indestructible: and they are indeed indestructible. They last a very long time in the environment and humans,” says epidemiologist Professor Martyn Kirk, and project lead of the PFAS Health Study1 at ANU.
Also known as ‘forever chemicals,’ PFAS are of concern because they have been linked to negative health impacts.
Professor Kirk talked with broadcaster Craig Reucassel and the ABC about these potential health impacts from PFAS exposure in our everyday life.
PFAS chemicals are found widely in the environment: in stormwater, groundwater, soils, and even other animals.
“People do excrete them over time,” says Professor Kirk. “The half-life, which is how long it takes for someone to get rid of half of the level, for say PFHxS is up to six years.”
While most Australian will have some background level of PFAS2 in their bodies, the good news is that rates of exposure are decreasing due to the ban of some of these chemicals.
Still, Professor Kirk says it is important we limit our exposure to these chemicals, and calls for companies using them to clean up their act.
“We should be looking for alternatives, and ones which are better, and less persistent in the environment,” says Professor Kirk.
1The PFAS Health Study investigated the exposure levels and potential health effects of PFAS in areas of known contamination in the communities of Williamtown in New South Wales, Oakey in Queensland, and Katherine in the Northern Territory, Australia.
2measured as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), or Perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS).