Read the full article by Adam Litchkofski (The Sierra Club)
“This past September, Leo and Elizabeth DeMi sat at the kitchen table of their rural Pennsylvania home and compared the results of their blood tests. Their numbers are a constant worry and a painful reminder of a global health and environmental crisis that researchers and communities are only beginning to understand. Both Leo and Elizabeth have tested positive for elevated levels of PFAS in their body.
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are man-made chemicals used in consumer products since the 1940s to resist water, heat, and stains. Waterproof outdoor gear, food packaging, nonstick pans, cosmetics, and firefighting foam have historically been produced with PFAS. These chemicals, engineered with strong carbon-fluorine bonds, have been reported in surface water, groundwater, and soils globally.
Their durability has earned them the moniker ‘forever chemicals.’ And exposure to these compounds is linked to testicular and kidney cancer, increased cholesterol levels, thyroid disruption, liver damage, lower birth weights, immune system dysregulation, reduced vaccine response, and developmental delays in children.
‘Virtually all of us have been exposed,’ said Andres Cardenas, an environmental epidemiologist at Stanford University. ‘Likely you, me, and everyone that you know has some levels of PFAS in their blood.'”…