PFAS script with direct links to the references! (Patreon)

If there was ONE science fact I could force-feed every single person on earth, it’s this. Corporations are getting away with continuing to develop products that use toxic forever chemicals. And because 99% of humans never took organic chemistry, you’ll spend all your time worrying about seed oils, red dye, & supplements while this shit is actually going on. But I’m a scientist– so let me help you understand how to avoid them the best you can. PFAS is an umbrella term for the family of highly toxic molecules – where there are multiple – fluorine atoms – bonded to a carbon. This is one of the strongest possible bonds in chemistry, and it’s what makes these molecules stick around for 3-5 YEARS in our bodies & the environment, before they start to break down. As we continue to be exposed & they bioaccumulate inside of us, they’re making us very sick. No like, I mean almost every imaginable kind of sick (1). You may have already thrown out your Teflon pans, but they can, and are likely, to be in almost any kind of product that has been “OPTIMIZED” to be waterproof, oil-resistant, nonstick, or long-lasting like waterproof or activewear fabrics, coated paper food packaging, long-wear cosmetics, anti-humidity hair products, and many Fcking more (2). They used to be common in firefighting foam, & I was concerned that the fire retardants being used on the LA wildfires right now might be PFAS, but it looks like they’ve switched over to a safer, more biodegradable, phosphate-based chemical. Many of the original PFAS chemicals (PFOS, PFOA)  have been banned or regulated, but the big chemical corps (3) keep making new little remixes of the same multiple-flouro-carbon melody that are already at HIGH environmental levels, and Republican political administrations keep ACTIVELY covering up federal research that these thangs are way more toxic at way lower levels than we’d realized (4). Ok, so, what do YOU do about minimizing exposure. Absorption through skin is low, but eating, drinking, or breathing this sht is the big issue. First of all, check your household and cosmetic products for any ingredient that has something “fluoro” in its name. Hydrofluoro is ehh ok– that’s just aerosol propellant. Look for perfluoro & other greek numeral prefixes. The more “fluoros” the worse it is. I used an anti-humidity hairspray for YEARS that had Octafluoropentyl Methacrylate as a top ingredient. That’s EIGHT Fluorine-carbon bonds. And there was NO ventilation where I was living, so that sht got in my LUNGS. Next*, any coated paper on food products is sus, in my book. Kerrygold butter just got sued for claiming their product is “pure irish butter” when it became clear that the PFAS wrapping paper leached into the food (6). About 45% of tap water in the US contains some kind of forever chemical (7) so do a search on your local water report to check levels (8). Speaking of the EPA… if the EPA gets de-funded again by the returning president, you can catch me protesting, in my underwear, of course, at the capitol building.

Caption: Please note that these fluorine bonds are different than Fluoride, but that’s for another video. 

Cancers such as kidney, prostate and testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, suboptimal antibody response / decreased immunity, decreased fertility, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, reduced infant and fetal growth and developmental issues in children, obesity, dyslipidemia (abnormally high cholesterol), and higher rates of hormone interference. [kidney cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, and cause disruptions in our immune system, fertility, pregnancy, and fetal development. [Sheinhaus & Gore, 2024; Beans, 2021; Zahm et al., 2023)

Sunderland et al, 2019 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6380916/

3M, AGC Inc., Archroma, Arkema, BASF, Bayer, Chemours, Daikin, Honeywell, Merck Group, Shandong Dongyue Chemical, and Solvay.

(Union of Concerned Scientists; Politico)

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/14/emails-white-house-interfered-with-science-study-536950

https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/bipartisan-outrage-as-epa-white-house-try-to-cover-up-chemical-health-assessment/

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Octafluoro-pentyl-methacrylate#section=Structures

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/classification/#hid=120 - PFAS library 

https://injuryclaims.com/news/class-action-foods-and-supplements/kerrygold-butter-pfas-lawsuit

(Smalling et al, 2023) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412023003069?via%3Dihub

(EPA Consumer Confidence Reports)  

EPA search tool for water report: https://ordspub.epa.gov/ords/safewater/f?p=136:102