Sneaky Places At Home Hiding Toxic PFAS Forever Chemicals

By now you’ve heard about PFAS chemicals - the “forever chemicals” most notably associated with non-stick cookware. Its also with plastics pollution and endocrine dysfunction.

But PFAS can be found in many common household items and it is linked to many chronic diseases down the line.

If you have infants or toddlers at home, it's especially important to consider the chemicals that could be in your carpet. For example, rugs are a major source of PFAS exposure for little ones who are likely to put their hands in their mouths after touching the material. 

What are PFAS?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, is a class of thousands of man-made substances that are common in everyday objects. Peer-reviewed studies have linked them to some cancers, decreased fertility, thyroid disease, and developmental delays, among other health issues.  linked to serious health issues like testicular and kidney cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, and more, are also hiding out in some pretty surprising places in our everyday lives.

Thanks to their super-strong carbon–fluorine (C–F) bonds, PFAS are extremely stable, making them persistent and resistant to degradation.

PFAS last for decades without breaking down, earning them the "forever chemicals" nickname.

Sneaky places at home that hide PFAS

It may be impossible to completely avoid PFAS, but there are a few simple ways to reduce your exposure. By tackling some of the sneaky places they hide:

Wall paint: One study at Duke University last year found PFAS in six of 10 popular paint brands sampled. The study also determined that in some brands there was off-gassing of PFAS, which reduces the overall concentration of the chemical in the paint on the wall, but disperses it into the air, where it can be inhaled.

Food packaging: PFAS were developed in the 1940s to resist heat, grease, stains, and water. That means they've ended up in a lot of food packaging. That includes pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, some wrappers, and grease-resistant paper.

A 2019 study found that people had lower PFAS levels in their blood after eating at home, and higher levels after eating fast food or at restaurants.

Nonstick cookware: The coating used in nonstick cookware usually contains PFAS, and they can easily leach into your food at high heat and once the coating gets scratched.

In fact, overheating nonstick cookware at 570°F or higher leads to the release of harmful chemicals that can cause an illness called "Teflon flu," or polymer fume fever.

In makeup: Cosmetics that are smoothing, long-wear, or waterproof are the ones most likely to contain PFAS chemicals. Without it, your mascara would run. It's a good idea to read ingredient labels (look for any ingredients with ‘fluoro’ in the name).

The Green Science Policy Institute keeps a list of PFAS-free products, including cosmetics brands.

In dental floss: for years, dental floss brands have used PFAS chemicals, which is concerning since it’s a product that goes in our mouths! A 2019 study found that women who flossed with Oral-B Glide had higher levels of a specific PFAS chemical in their blood than women who didn’t use that particular floss. Make sure your floss is PFAS-free!

Soft contact lenses: a random sampling of 18 popular brands of soft lenses sent to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-certified lab all tested positive for PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Menstrual care products: Mamavation and Environmental Health News conducted a study of PFAS in menstrual care products, including tampons, pads, sanitary napkins and period underwear, and found most of them contaminated to one degree or another with the forever chemicals.

Clothing and textiles: One of the ways fabrics become water resistant is by using PFAS chemicals! Jackets, raincoats, backpacks, and other outdoor gear are often treated with these chemicals.

These fabrics shed fibers that can travel through the house as dust, eventually getting ingested or inhaled.

These same chemicals are used in stain-resistant treatments for upholstered furniture, carpeting, and even curtains. There’s no easy way to know if your items have been treated, especially if they’re older. When it comes time to replace them, seek out brands that don’t use PFAS chemicals.

House dust: Those floaters in the air you see are made up of many things, including chemicals breaking down from various household products, including PFAS. One study found that certain PFAS chemicals were detected in 97-100% of samples! One straightforward solution is to keep your house as clean as possible. Use a water-damp cloth to remove dust (referred to as wet dusting), is a simple way to lower PFAS exposure in your home. lingers in the air and allows humans to breathe the chemicals into their lungs or ingest them. By cleaning regularly, along with opening windows to allow for airflow and ventilation, you can keep dust levels low in your home and reduce the amount of PFAS you swallow.

Tap water: Communities located near military bases, such as Newburgh, New York, often find their water supplies contaminated with PFAS. The pollution can also affect local fish populations and the people who eat them.

PFAS levels in community tap water in Massachusetts reveals a trend of increasing contamination, with total fluorinated compounds exhibiting a 5- to 320-fold rise over 25 years.

People living near military bases are more vulnerable to water contamination. For example, it emerged through internal U.S. documents obtained by journalist Jon Mitchell for The Japan Times that accidental leaks of PFOS-containing fire extinguishing foam at Kadena Air Base may be linked to the contamination of drinking water on the island.

Cellphones / Fingerprint-resistant smartphone screens: PFAS are used in pretty much anything to make things more resistant to grease and water. The circuit boards, semiconductors, and insulated wiring that use PFAS, as well as the touch screen, which has PFAS coating to resist fingerprints.

EMF Exposure and Your Testicals, Testosterone, and Male Fertility

EMFs and Your Testicles

One of the most vulnerable organs to the RF-EMR is the testes.

This is due to the fact that testicular tissues are more susceptible to oxidative stress due to a high rate of cell division and mitochondrial oxygen consumption.

The biological effects of RF-EMR from wireless devices can be categorized as thermal and non-thermal.

First of all, it gets hot in there.

As it cannot effectively dissipate excess heat, testes are also susceptible to thermal effects from wireless radiation. The heat comes from how close your device is to your body.

Heat is also created when you are on the mobile phone conversing for extended periods of time, especially in POOR connectivity areas. This is because your phone emits at greater power to try to stay connected.

Researchers have found at least two ways that wireless radiation harms the sperm. As the cell proliferate, replication errors occur, resulting in DNA fragmentation in the sperm. Moreover, the cell needs to consume more increased oxygen, which increases the level of oxidative phosphorylation by-products (free radicals) in the mitochondria.

RF-EMR have been observed to cause:

• aberrations in the testes

• testicular tissue atrophy

• decreased testosterone levels,

• and a subsequent deterioration in sperm quality,

• including decreased motility in sperm

Thus you can see the concern about electro-pollution, especially from wireless technology and its impact on male reproductive function.

Established health impacts of RF-EMR

Now, the testes isn’t only for fun and reproduction. It is an important organ that generates your body’s supply of male hormones.

Taking care of your testicles is also protecting your personal hormonal balance.

When you’re hormonally out of balance, it is impossible to feel any kind of good in life.

Here are some negative effects of non-native EMFs on human health:

1. Increased Risk of Cancer

Studies show a link between long-term exposure to non-native EMFs and an increased risk of certain types of cancer, such as leukemia and brain tumors.

2. Disruption of Sleep Patterns

Non-native EMFs, particularly those emitted by electronic devices like smartphones and Wi-Fi routers, are associated with sleep disturbances. Exposure to these EMFs before bedtime interfere with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, leading to difficulties falling asleep or disrupted sleep patterns.

3. Impact on Fertility

Studies indicate that non-native EMFs have a negative impact on fertility. Prolonged exposure to EMFs from sources like laptops, cell phones, and wireless devices reduce sperm quality, motility, and viability.

4. Neurological Effects

There is evidence that non-native EMFs may have neurological effects, including increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

5. Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS)

Some individuals experience symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, and dizziness when exposed to non-native EMFs. This greatly reduces quality of life and their productivity and vitality at work and in their personal relationships.

Electromagnetic soup of pollution

It’s difficult to avoid the use of mobile phones and it has become an essential part of our daily lives in this modern era. Our phones have gone from simple communication tool to a wireless device with multiple functions to feed literally every aspect of life, such as internet browsing, gaming, video on demand, video conferencing, mobile TV, GPS navigation, and many more. The thing is, wireless tech is, well, wireless. It requires connection to a WiFi point. This means continuous communication from your phone to the antennas in the area.

Wireless radiation is also incredible energy, and 5G - even shorter wavelengths, higher energy - means it will be in our pockets by reproductive organs, by our brain, every street. This is how abnormalities can be caused as the energy messes up cell function and proliferation. It's important to understand by dabbling with these tech, we are dabbling with our health. If we're serious about protecting ourselves from ALL energy weapons, we have to change our habits with our wireless tech devices. E.g. NO airpods. No putting your laptop right on your testes, etc.

Avoiding long-term and excessive use of mobile phone is one way to reduce the detrimental effect of RF-EMR.

Other methods including choosing EMF-proof clothing to protect your most vulnerable organs.

Read the science, watch the videos, and sign up here to eliminate the single most common source of wireless radiation.

References:

• https://doi.org/10.4314%2Faja.v7i1.169488

• Asghari A, Khaki AA, Rajabzadeh A, Khaki A. A review on Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and the reproductive system. Electron Physician. 2016 Jul 25;8(7):2655-62. doi: 10.19082/2655. PMID: 27648194; PMCID: PMC5014506.

Studies on quats: Can Hand Sanitisers Harm Your Fertility?

“Quats,” short for quaternary ammonium compounds. They’ve been part of cleaning products for decades.

Because they were invented before most toxin regulations came into place, quats are mostly “grandfathered” into the chemicals used today.

Researchers are finding more and more about the harms of quats, including on fertility. In this article, we go over what research has found out about quats.

According to a pivotal study by researchers from Virginia Tech University and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, quats is a common ingredient in cleaning supplies that undermined fertility in both male and female mice.

the study

For the study, the researchers exposed female and male mice to quats. These were a mixture of two common quats  – alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC) and didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC).

After five weeks of daily exposure to the quat mix, female mice spent significantly less time in heat, and after eight weeks of exposure, ovulated less frequently and produced fewer viable embryos than female mice in the control group, the scientists reported.

They found that quats appeared to impair the reproductive systems of male mice even more dramatically.

quats were used to clean the mice cages and floors

The scientists fed small amounts of the quat mix to one group of male mice for eight days.

A second group of males wasn’t dosed deliberately but for seven weeks was housed in a facility where lab staffers conducted routine cleaning with the disinfectants.

In both groups, the male mice showed lower sperm concentrations and fewer swimming sperm than a control group of mice that was not exposed to the two quat chemicals under investigation.

You can read the study published in the journal Reproductive Toxicology here.

quats harm on fertility

This adds to earlier studies linking quats to fertility risks. An earlier study by research teams from Virginia Tech and Washington State University, found that female mice exposed to the quat combination took longer to achieve pregnancy, developed fewer pregnancies. and gave birth to smaller litters.

That December 2014 study has an interesting origin story. One of its lead researchers, Hrubec, noticed that the mice in her lab were reproducing less frequently. She only discovered the link after suspecting her lab assistants’ habit of wetting their hands with quat-laced disinfectant before handling the mice!

That brought Hrubec to an article in the journal Nature about Patricia Hunt, a prominent geneticist at Washington State, who had made similar observations in her own lab in 2005.

(Hunt is famed for another lab accident, back in 1998, that led her to discover that the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A was leaching from her lab animals’ plastic water bottles into their bodies. She told EWG in 2008 that BPA exposure scrambled the chromosomes in the animals’ eggs, rendering them infertile.)

post-pandemic increase in exposure to quats

During the pandemic, many people loaded up on disinfectants, hand sanitizers, and sanitizing wipes to keep possible viruses at bay.

It even changed many people’s habits to preferring sanitisers over simple hand washing, believing that the chemical wash helps them avoid getting sick.

However, now people are exposed to quats because of widespread use of these chemicals in homes, offices, stores, schools, medical facilities and elsewhere. EWG’s research on school cleaning supplies revealed quat-containing cleaners used in multiple school districts in California.

Quats are well-documented allergens and can cause otherwise healthy individuals to develop asthma.

It is highly ironic if, in a bid to rid ourselves of exposure to possible viruses, we expose ourselves to definite toxins and develop lung diseases and breathing difficulties instead.

References

1. Exposure to common quaternary ammonium disinfectants decreases fertility in mice, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890623814001920

2. EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning lists more than 250 cleaning products that contain quats.

Study: Scrotal temperature is increased in disposable plastic lined nappies

The one study that does give cloth diapers a leg up in health benefits for baby boys appeared in the October 2000 issue of the Disease in Childhood medical journal. In that article,

Disposable plastic-lined nappies have a long line of problems.

The study

German researchers measured the scrotal skin temperature in 48 healthy children aged 0–55 months (three age groups) for two 24 hour periods in randomised order (either cotton or disposable plastic lined nappies) using a portable, miniature recorder.

They found that the scrotal skin temperatures of baby boys were significantly higher when they wore disposable diapers than when they wore cloth.

They highlighted how the usual physiological testicular cooling mechanism is blunted and often completely abolished during plastic nappy use. Your baby’s bits are not able to regulate itself in a hot plastic nappy.

Higher scrotal temperatures, lower sperm counts

They suggest that prolonged use of disposable diapers as infants was an "important factor" contributing to the decline of sperm production among adult males. To make healthy sperm, you need a good environment for the sperm-producing parts of the body; that is, scrotal hypothermia is an important factor for normal spermatogenesis.

“Male reproductive health has deteriorated in recent decades. (…) increased testicular temperature in early childhood, due to the use of modern disposable plastic lined nappies (diapers), could be an important factor contributing to this decline.”

The interesting thing is that Proctor & Gamble conducted its own study and also found that scrotal skin temperatures increased for boys in disposable diapers.

References

1. Partsch C, Aukamp M, Sippell WG. Scrotal temperature is increased in disposable plastic lined nappies. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2000;83:364-368.