Mitigating PFAS

Health, Fitness, Food, Insurance, Longevity, Diets,...
Post Reply
theanimal
Posts: 2627
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Mitigating PFAS

Post by theanimal »

What does everyone here do to limit their exposure to PFAS?

Water filtration is the obvious one.

We do not use any Teflon coated products, only stainless steel, cast iron and glass cookware. We have one rug that was made prior to 2018 so my thought is that it likely has PFAS in it. Then of course the paint in our house and some of the staining materials. Are there any paints that do not use PFAS? Seems like traditional wood preservation methods like burning or mineral oil can be used in lieu of stains. Otherwise we were happy to find out almost all of our outdoor gear is PFAS free with the exception of our rain jackets. I won't be getting Gore-Tex products again after I'm done with this jacket.

It pisses me off that none of this information is public about what goods it is used in and you more or less have to guess which things have PFAS in them or not. These people created it, did studies that told them how dangerous/harmful it is and have continued to sell it for decades. They should be in jail.

Gilberto de Piento
Posts: 1942
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Check your water supply if possible, even on a municipal supply. Its showing up in more and more places. One example is if you live near where a fire department practices. They sometimes use foam with pfas and it can end up in the water in dangerous amounts.

theanimal
Posts: 2627
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by theanimal »

@GdP-Yes, I have read the local water info. There is PFAS in the water, lower quantities than elsewhere but definitely present. It is from a local aquifer and there is no piping system so you have to figure if it’s here it’s everywhere.

The place we lived last winter was a rental on an 80 acre compound across from the airport. We lived in a dry cabin but the landlord had a well at his house further down the road. It was found to be contaminated from the firefighters foam from the airport. His wife died early, I have to wonder if that was a cause. The city paid and installed a high end filtration system at his house. I think they compensated him as well.

KRUMPn
Posts: 54
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:55 pm

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by KRUMPn »

Seems like it’s best to just use high quality filtration whenever possible i.e. trust no water source at this point. As far as PFAS in other items, I’m with you that it’s damn near impossible to find stuff that blatantly says it’s not toxic. Add on to that we don’t know the safety profile of “new and improved” materials. For instance I have a non stick pan that claims to be free of PFAS, but what other crap is coming off of it?
Maybe a good limiter is to not trust anything invented after a certain era (when that is I don’t know)? I think this is kind of what you are already doing with cast iron. Would stainless steel fail this? I’ve read some people are terrified of the nickel and chromium that could leach from stainless. I don’t think there’s enough scientific evidence to prove that out though. Maybe a better methodology I’d only limit to a previous era, if we have obvious issues (like cookware?) otherwise don’t worry about it? I’ve racked my brain about this many times and have never come up with a good solution.

the_platypus
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:03 am

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by the_platypus »

Over the summer news came out about PFAS in makeup.

Married2aSwabian
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:45 pm

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by Married2aSwabian »

theanimal wrote:
Sat Nov 20, 2021 3:26 pm
What does everyone here do to limit their exposure to PFAS?

Water filtration is the obvious one.

We do not use any Teflon coated products, only stainless steel, cast iron and glass cookware. We have one rug that was made prior to 2018 so my thought is that it likely has PFAS in it. Then of course the paint in our house and some of the staining materials. Are there any paints that do not use PFAS? Seems like traditional wood preservation methods like burning or mineral oil can be used in lieu of stains. Otherwise we were happy to find out almost all of our outdoor gear is PFAS free with the exception of our rain jackets. I won't be getting Gore-Tex products again after I'm done with this jacket.

It pisses me off that none of this information is public about what goods it is used in and you more or less have to guess which things have PFAS in them or not. These people created it, did studies that told them how dangerous/harmful it is and have continued to sell it for decades. They should be in jail.
This has been an issue here in Michigan for some time, and you’re right the manufacturers belong in jail! There was a big contamination over by Grand Rapids and one just 20 miles from where we live both a few years ago…or at least that was when it was finally detected. We even went to public town hall meetings w our US congresswoman about it. I stood up and asked what legislation with “teeth” would be passed to truly hold manufacturers accountable for their actions and PAY for the cleanup…nothing! They gave a BS answer, but nothing done.

We moved into a new (old) house four years ago that is less than one mile from a lake w PFAS detected in it. Since we’re on well water, I elected to take samples and have them sent to a lab to test. Levels are detected in ppTrillion, so only 2 labs in whole state can do it. $265 out of pocket. Thankfully came back negative. We still have an RO filtration system, but honestly when levels are ppT, I doubt it could filter it out.

Also got rid of any Teflon cookware long ago. I guess the shit’s even in dental floss, but I’m not gonna stop flossing my pearly whites!

Western Red Cedar
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I came across this in my newsfeed today:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rch-center

Really annoying because I've periodically bought Kos protein powder from Grocery Outlet over the last year. I've specifically tried to buy organic, plant-based protein powders, but this is a good reminder that I probably need to double down on my efforts to avoid any processed foods at all.

OTCW
Posts: 437
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:55 am

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by OTCW »

https://time.com/6281242/pfas-forever-c ... -products/

It's in all kinds of products. It's in wild caught fish (one stat I saw equated a month's worth of PFAS exposure from drinking water to a single wild caught fish). It's in rain. Do your best, but realize it's an uphill battle.

theanimal
Posts: 2627
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: AK
Contact:

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by theanimal »

Since starting this thread there have been studies that have found that donating blood is a good way to remove PFAS from your bloodstream. You can't remove it completely, but it is a good way to reduce the amount found in your body.

mathiverse
Posts: 788
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:40 pm

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by mathiverse »

You can also sell your plasma and earn money while reducing your PFAS levels. Plasma "donations" were more effective in reducing PFAS levels compared to blood donation in the study below.

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/blog/donating ... our-blood/

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamane ... le/2790905

User avatar
Ego
Posts: 6359
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:42 am

Re: Mitigating PFAS

Post by Ego »

Boil water before drinking to remove microplastics. The harder the water, the better boiling is at removing the microplastics. Our electric kettle has to be descaled regularly so I hope it is working.

https://www.technologynetworks.com/appl ... rst-384308
Boiling was able to remove 84% of the NMPs added to hard water samples containing around 180 milligrams of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This rose to 90% for very hard water samples, containing around 300 mg/L of the mineral.
We filter our water before boiling using a simple Brita filter. I make two 2-liters bottles of tea a day and cool it in the refrigerator before drinking. I have changed the recipe a bit to include a bag of green tea, matcha, turmeric, black pepper, lemon balm, amla powder, lions mane mushroom powder, cordyceps mushroom powder, reishi mushroom powder, hibiscus, cinnamon powder, ashwagandha and clove powder. Tastes like spicy mud.

Post Reply