Surprising Sources of PFAS Exposure
I talk about PFAS chemicals often here on the Non-Toxic Munchkin blog, but sometimes these chemicals can be found in surprising places.
WHAT ARE PFAS CHEMICALS?
They are a family of chemicals usually used give items ‘non-stick’ ‘ stain/water repellant’ and ‘easy glide’ properties
There are 5,000 variants of the chemicals - in other words 5,000 members to this family, so it can be hard to know what products contain pfas and which don’t
Most of the PFAS we know exist have not been studied for toxicity. However those that have been are linked with kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, low birth weight, decreased fertility and immune system damage. With chemicals in general we find that chemicials that fall under the same family usually have similar effects. Substituting one that we know is harmful for another one which hasnt been studied is called ‘ regrettable substitution’ instead many scientists and experts believe that chemicals like PFAS should be looked at as an entire class…. if one is found to be harmful then they should all be thought of as harmful until proven innocent.
The most common sources of PFAS exposure include:
Carpets & rugs (read more here)
non-stick cookware (read more here )
performance fabric upholstery (stain free fabrics for sofas etc) (read more here)
water proof winter gear (read more here)
Beyond these, there are other somewhat surprising sources of PFAS exposure including:
Food Packaging (this includes single use “biodegradable” to go containers, trays, lids, fast food wrappers and pizza boxes) can be a direct source of exposure to PFAS, since the chemicals can leach from the package into your food.
INSTEAD TRY: minimizing take out, eating more at home
2. Makeup: A European study looked at cosmetics and found, the highest concentrations of PFAS were found in foundations and liquid products (among brands they listed were: Lumenes foundations, L'oreal SkinPerfection (Correcting Day Moisturiser), Biotherm Skin-best (cream spf 15), Garnier The Miracle Cream (Anti-wrinkle skin beautifier), H&M Highlight PaletteBiotherm Aquasource (Rich Cream, dry skin). According to EWG skin Deep Database over 181 cosmetics contain PTFE (and that is just one of various possible PFAS chemical used in cosmetics) including lipsticks like the Lancome L’Absolu
INSTEAD TRY: purchase non-toxic makeup from brands like those I have in my Amazon store under Beauty and at the Detox MArket
How to Identify an ingredient that are PFAS and other fluorinated compounds:
Ammonium c6-16 perfluoroalkylethyl phosphate
Perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane
Polytef
Polytefum
Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Difluoroethyl Peg Phosphate
Polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy Peg-2 Phosphate
Perfluorononylethyl Carboxydecyl Peg-10 Dimethicone
3. Dental Floss: a study from 2019 found PFAS chemicals in Oral B and Glide and other store bought flosses
*pfas free flosses include: Radius_usa and Risewell (code 10NONTOXICMUNCHKIN gives you 10% off)
4. Water: It is estimate more than 110 million Americans could have tap water contaminated with thisPFAS. Many water filters do not filter our PFAS.
INSTEAD TRY: Find a water filter that does filter out PFAS here
5. Apple Watch sport band: consider another band without fluorochemicals if you have the Apple watch
6. Stain resistant clothing: I actually did not know this existed! But yes it is a thing and high tech brands as well as everyday brands like Old Navy make clothing with PFAS. These are usually identified with ‘stain free’ messaging
7. DUST: one of the most common toxins found in household dust are PFAS dusting often with a moist rag and/or HEPA filter vacuum is key
8. Performance fabric & water/stain proofing finishes: most outdoor furniture and many indoor furniture (including upholstered beds) now contain PFAS.
INSTEAD TRY: For indoors try to source PFAS free fabric. For those concerned with stains slipcovers that canoe washed are a great and safer alternatives
9. Microwave popcorn bags - make organic popcorn at home in a stainless steel pan (I have a story on my Instagram showing how!)
More surprising sources include:
Topo Chico Sparking Water
Fishing Lines
artificial Turf
Piano Keys
Guitar Strings
Ski Wax
Golf Gloves
filters used by wineries to strain wine before its bottled
Source: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/EM/D0EM00291G#!divAbstract
Conclusion
While exposure to one source of pfas on occasion probably does not pose a risk - short and long term health risk increase if you are exposed to several products contianing pfas, especially on a daily basis.
Knowledge is power: if you know where they are and how to identify them you can reduce your exposure significantly
MORE SOURCES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6380916/
https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/10/978-87-93710-94-8.pdf