While per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have provided us with some very useful lifestyle perks such as grease and stain resistance, they also come with negative implications that unfortunately have a timestamp of… forever. They will never fully degrade and are just continuing to spread across the globe, into the environment and our bodies – the blood of 98 percent of Americans to be exact.
“Forever chemicals,” as aptly named by Harvard professor Joseph Allen in a recent Washington Post editorial, are characterized by their fluorine-carbon bond, “one of the strongest of all organic chemistry.” This strong bond is helpful for creating the nonstick surface that we know and love, keeping out things such as oil, grease, dirt, and water. When there is one taken off the market, a dozen more appear – at the moment, there are thousands of new variants in use.
Allen writes that now is the time for a strong and clear market-based message that supports products based in green science principles, where manufacturers design with the whole lifecycle in mind and consider the environmental and human health implications of the production materials, manufacturing process, reuse, and disposal.
Health Care Without Harm’s partners Kaiser Permanente and Harvard University are featured in this editorial for their great work banning the use of forever chemicals in their furniture and building materials, implementing the standards Health Care Without Harm developed for the Safer Chemicals Challenge. Health Care Without Harm has been a strong advocate for the restriction of these compounds since 2013 and continues to work toward this goal.
[Source: The Washington Post]