What you want to know about PFAS

real_aurgathor

PFAS have been in the news for quite some time, but I have yet to find a relatively concise, single piece of article or video that would thoroughly describe them – their history, their use, the possible dangers they pose, the status quo, etc. Until now, that is. Veritasium just released a pretty decent video on the history and essentially most other aspects of PFAS. I know some could label this as “daily scare”, but I just want to preempt that this way. 😉

Methinks it’s well worth watching in its entirety.

How One Company Secretly Poisoned The Planet 54:08

Rook

They compared PFAS to leaded gas, freon, and asbestos. Hopefully PFAS ends up like those 3.
(The U.S. went from making cigarette filters out of asbestos (in the 1950’s) to banning its use in a lot of areas.)

HooRU

I had to handle bales of asbestos cloth in a warehouse back in the early 80s. I didn’t handle too much of it, but I was exposed.

Then, as a photonics tech, I was exposed to chemicals so dangerous, a good breath would kill you. To those I was very exposed.

Now this.

Cutting funding on national health is certainly not helping either.

real_aurgathor

HooRU

Amount and exposure times are crucial because there are many poisonous substances that even though highly toxic, can be tolerated reasonably well in small amounts. Especially if they can be broken down or expelled in one way or another.

real_aurgathor

Rook

There are certain uses (i.e firefighting foam) where PFAS have to be and will be phased out, no matter what since once they are dispersed, cleanup is difficult and very costly. See:
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/blog/firefighting-foams-pfas-vs-fluorine-free-foams/
https://www.jhuapl.edu/news/news-releases/230518b-apl-explores-pfas-free-firefighting-foams

As for other uses that may be easier said than done with certain products such as Teflon or Viton ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FKM and https://www.nes-ips.com/what-is-viton/ ) because they are essentially irreplaceable since their properties are largely unmatched by non-fluorocarbon compounds. However, manufacturers can still ‘beef-up’ the production process to ensure that precursors and initiators do not get into the environment.

Somewhat-Reticent

Labeling notes PFAS-coated cookware should never be allowed to overheat …