PFAS is a toxic class of chemical compounds linked to infertility, cancer, and thyroid problems. Its reach is far more widespread, long-lasting, and dangerous than previously thought, says the US Environmental Protection Agency—and the chemicals particularly put women from their child-bearing years into middle age at risk.
PFAS include polyfluoroalkyls and perfluoralkyls, substances that have been used since the 1940s to make nonstick cookwear like Teflon, moisture-repellent fabrics, various kinds of plastic, and flame-retarding equipment. They’re also found in cosmetics, food packaging, stain-resistant coatings on carpeting and furniture, and perhaps worst of all, drinking water. They work because they’re highly resistant to water and fire. But that is also why they don’t easily break down into harmless components. Instead, they “bio accumulate,” building up in the human body and in nature with long-term negative consequences.
EPA recently found that even minuscule levels of exposure over a person’s lifetime—as little as 0.004 to 0.02 parts per trillion—can compromise human immune and cardiovascular systems.
“PFAS are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they never degrade in the environment and contaminate drinking water, soil, air, food and numerous products we consume or encounter routinely,” Ning Ding, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, reported as she released the results of a study of the impact of these compounds on 1,120 middle-age women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these fluorinated chemicals can be found in the bodies of people across the country. However, “women seem to be particularly vulnerable when exposed to these chemicals,” Ding said.
For example, middle-aged women with higher blood concentrations of PFAS were at greater risk of developing high blood pressure compared to women who had lower levels of these substances. Further, women exposed to PFAS may experience menopause two years earlier than other women, Ding found in another study.
In addition, though tiny, PFAS exposures in the womb have been linked to decreased birth weights. Nursing mothers can pass PFAS to their infants, though both EPA and the CDC stress that the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh concerns about infant susceptibility to the PFAS they acquire when nursing.
Communities where PFAS are manufactured or used in manufacturing other products are particularly at risk if the chemicals were discharged in wastewater or buried in landfills. A study of nearly 70,000 people near a Teflon plant in West Virginia, highlighted by the searing film Dark Waters, linked PFAS contamination to kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, miscarriages, infertility, dead farm animals, and even discolored teeth.
“Because of their persistence in humans and potentially detrimental effects on ovarian function, it is important to raise awareness of this issue and reduce exposure to these chemicals,” Ding recommends.
Here’s how to reduce PFAS exposure:
- Use stainless steel or cast-iron cookware rather than “nonstick” pots and pans.
- Don’t treat carpeting or furniture with stain-resistant sprays. Instead, leave shoes at the door to minimize dirt and spot clean spills as they happen. If you have furniture and carpet professionally cleaned, opt for steam cleaning with fragrance-free, water-based cleansers and forgo stain treatment afterward.
- Make your own popcorn rather than use microwave bags that often are lined with PFA-based non-stick coatings.
- Buy safer cosmetics. A study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found Teflon in foundation, sunscreen/moisturizer, eye shadow, bronzer/highlighter, facial powder, sunscreen/makeup, mascara and other eye makeup, and various moisturizers. Search “Teflon-free” or “PFAS-free” cosmetics to find safer alternatives.
- Contact your water department and ask them to test for the presence of PFAS in your tap water. Have your well water tested too. If you test your water yourself, work with a state-certified lab using EPA-developed testing methods.
- Consider installing in-home water treatment filters that are certified to lower the levels of PFAS in your water. EPA recommends these systems for in-home water treatment filters.
- Avoid eating fish from waterways impacted by PFAS. You can determine which waterways are of concern by contacting your state or tribal fish advisory programs using EPA’s list of state, territory, and tribal fish advisory contacts. Make sure to follow fish consumption guidelines that tell people to stop or limit eating fish from waters tainted with PFAS or other contaminants.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is making available $1 billion in grant funding to help communities that are on the front lines of PFAS contamination to reduce PFAS in drinking water.