As they've been gaining a lot of media attention recently, you may have heard of "forever chemicals," named for their inability to break down normally. These toxins are more formally called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a category that includes a wide variety of harmful chemicals like PFOS, PFBS, and PFOA. They're so widespread that they're found in many different bodily fluids, a wide variety of animals, drinking water, and 99.7% of Americans' bodies. PFAS are also found in a wide variety of items, including non-stick and waterproof coatings, cookware, clothing, food wrappers, personal care products, non-organic produce, and even some organic foods, carpet, and furniture, among other products.
PFAS have many reproductive impacts. They've been linked to low sperm count and motility, smaller genital size in males, and a reduction in anogenital distances in males (more similar anatomically to females). PFAS can also lead to birth defects, abnormal fetal development, and low birth weights. They've also been shown to disrupt reproductive cycles in females, and exposure is linked to an increased risk of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. In addition, PFAS can alter and delay breast development, harm the breasts' ability to lactate, decrease breast milk quality, and shorten how long parents breastfeed. Studies have found a link between PFAS and later start of menstruation, early menopause, and disrupted egg follicle formation, which harms reproduction. PFAS chemicals can be passed to the fetus during pregnancy, and among the other effects mentioned, they can reduce the number of eggs a female fetus has. They're also associated with stillbirth and preterm birth. These chemicals are considered to be especially dangerous in fetuses. PFAS can also be passed through breast milk, which could exposure children at critical developmental stages. These chemicals have been heavily linked to infertility in both males and females.
PFAS have many other effects on the body, including hormonal ones. Because the endocrine system can use very small amounts of hormones to create big changes, even very low doses of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, like PFAS, can have major impacts. PFAS can imitate testosterone and trick your body into thinking they are testosterone, disrupting many processes in the body, both reproductive and not, by sending testosterone's signals. Studies have also found that these chemicals increase estrogen levels and alter steroid production. Additionally, they can disrupt thyroid hormones and harm the thyroid in a variety of other ways. One type of PFAS, PFOA, has been linked to hypothyroidism, which can also lead to brain damage in fetuses. PFAS have been linked to obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic issues, as well as heart disease. They can alter brain, prostate, liver, spleen, reproductive organ, kidney, adrenal gland, thymus, pituitary gland, and overall body weights, affecting organ and body function. This change in pituitary weight can also change the gland's function, which can disrupt many other hormones and organs throughout the body. Beyond that, they can reduce vaccines' effectiveness and harm the immune system, making the body more susceptible to sickness and worse at fighting off germs. Additionally, PFAS have been linked to delayed growth, early puberty, and delayed development in fetuses and babies. These chemicals can also damage organelles (cell parts) like mitochondria and harm cells' abilities to communicate with one another.
PFAS have also been shown to increase the risk of many different types of cancer. Studies have found links between PFAS exposure and liver, pancreatic, breast, prostate, uterine, kidney, testicular, and possibly ovarian cancers. People exposed to some types of PFAS are also more likely to die from certain cancers.
PFAS chemicals don't break down easily, and they're bioaccumulative, meaning that they can build up in the body. They are widespread in soil, bodies of water (and what lives in them), air, rain, and other parts of the environment. They also contaminate many sources of drinking water, including about half of the tap water in the US. Because they're water-resistant and non-stick, PFAS can very easily move from their original product to something else, allowing the chemicals to spread throughout the environment. And although some forms of PFAS have been banned, they continue to exist in the environment because they don't break down. As previously mentioned, PFAS are in lots of different products, from cosmetics to food packaging. There's a good chance that if a product is non-stick, it contains PFAS. Much of our exposure also comes from eating and drinking. Contaminated water sources are a huge and widespread issue, because of the consistent exposure associated with them. Eating seafood from contaminated water or animals that lived on contaminated soil is also especially harmful due to repeated exposure. We already know that PFAS are found in many everyday consumer products, and testing is ongoing to find new sources of exposure.
Because PFAS exposure comes from so many sources, it can be difficult to eliminate your risk completely. However, some steps you can take include using a water filter, not using non-stick products when possible, reducing consumption of fast food (because the wrappers are often coated with PFAS), and trying to choose PFAS-free products when options are available. Some groups, like Mamavation, run tests on consumer products to detect PFAS, which you can use to see what brands contain PFAS and which don't, and of course, you can read about alternatives on Drop the Tox as well.
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