"If you're reading this, chances are great you've got PFCs in your blood.
Since the 1940s, industrial quantities of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), have been manufactured and sold by various chemical companies, most notably 3M and DuPont, for use in well-known products like Scotchguard and Teflon.
There are thousands of variations on the chemistry, which is essential to making consumer products resistant to stains, grease and water. Aerospace, automotive, building and construction and the electronics industries also rely on PFCs for their ability to reduce friction in the manufacturing process.
Because of their ubiquity in cookware, carpet, textiles, upholstery, mattresses, food packaging and firefighting foams, almost all Americans have been exposed to and accumulated some volume of PFCs in their body.
One PFC, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), was found in blood serum in 99 percent of the U.S. general population between 1999 and 2012.
A perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) molecule.
The chemistry: Perfluorinated chemicals, also called polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) or polyfluorinated compounds, feature a carbon backbone with fluorine atoms attached each bonding point. Other chemicals like hydrogen, oxygen and chlorine can attach to the end of the carbon chain. Varying the chain length, attached flourines and other atoms can produce different PFCs. For example, PFOA has 8 carbons in its chain and is sometimes referred to as C8.
The toxicity: Perfluorinated chemicals are very stable under harsh conditions, which makes them a great tool for spraying on liquid jet fuel fires but a terrible thing for the environment and the human body. Their stability allows PFCs to persist in the ground and water and bio-accumulate in fish and wildlife. As with mercury, smaller concentrations magnify up the food chain until they land in the diet of fish-eating humans, where the PFCs can remain in the body for years.
The effects: In laboratory studies on animals, some PFCs are shown to disrupt normal endocrine activity, reduce immune system functions, have adverse effects on organs like the kidneys, liver and pancreas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency links two PFCs, PFOS and PFOA, to thyroid disorders and childhood developmental issues. Exposure over certain levels to unborn children or breastfed infants may cause complications like low birth weight, accelerated puberty and skeletal variations. The chemicals have also been linked to testicular and kidney cancers, liver damage and cholesterol changes.
Why isn't this more widely known? Perfluorinated chemicals haven't quite broken into mainstream consciousness the way other poisons have. That's because there's still a huge amount of study yet to be done. Today, PFCs are considered "emerging contaminants" and are not subject to enforceable regulation or cleanup standards in the U.S. -- although the EPA this spring published health advisory guidelines for PFOS and PFOA that suggest prolonged exposure over 70 parts-per-billion (ppt) can cause health problems. There's ongoing government and university study of other PFCs, but PFOS and PFOA have been scrutinized the longest and therefore the government is comfortable quantifying the risk. The U.S. and Canadian governments also just listed PFOS and PFOA as chemicals of "mutual concern." Unfortunately, it takes years of study to develop enough data on toxicity for agencies like the EPA to enact regulations. Also, because there are so many PFC variants, scientists are having trouble assessing the risk potential across the entire chemical class.
Where are PFCs found in Michigan? In Michigan, concern about PFCs began elevating in 2010, when testing found PFOS at never-before-seen levels in fish at Clark's Marsh in Oscoda. Plumes from the closed Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which used a firefighting foam loaded with PFCs, contaminated the wetland and PFCs are still being found at elevated levels in local wells. Elsewhere, PFOS and PFOA have been found in raw and treated water in Ann Arbor and Plainfield Township water supplies. Surface water testing has found PFCs in the AuSable River, Flint River, Kalamazoo River, Saginaw River and St. Joseph River. A 2015 Michigan Department of Health and Human Services report noted that "future source investigations should focus on locations where PFOS-based-firefighting foam may have been used in large quantities and on sources in urban centers."
PFC problem beyond Michigan: The PFC plumes at Wurtsmith helped wake the U.S. Air Force up to contamination at other military bases. Today, the military is cleaning up PFC-contaminated drinking water near active or former bases in Delaware, Alaska, Pennsylvania, California, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey and Colorado. That's just a sampling. Military officials have upped the number of possible contaminated sites to 2,000. Industrial use of PFCs in chemical or plastic-making has polluted communities like Hoosick Falls, N.Y., Bennington, Vt., Parkersburg, W. Va., and Washington, W. Va.
What can you do? Experts say PFCs cannot be boiled out of water, but can be removed by reverse osmosis filters, which can cost several hundred dollars for a good model. Michigan is buying filters for folks with contaminated wells in Oscoda and there's $1 million in the new budget to hook people up to safe, municipal water. That's only necessary, however, if you're drinking contaminated water. Because certain PFCs have been phased-out of manufactured products, newer domestically-made items should reduce some latent exposure. You can further reduce PFC exposure by ditching non-stick cookware, or using non-metal utensils with Teflon-coated pans. Also, consumers can choose furniture and carpets not marketed as "stain resistant," avoid grease-repellant food packaging like French fry boxes, microwave popcorn and pizza boxes, and avoid consumer products with ingredients listing "fluoro" or "perfluoro.""
"Additional Research on PFCs In addition to the NTP’s effort, NIEHS-funded grantees across the country are researching PFCs. For example, some are exploring a potential link between PFCs and behavioral disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,9 while others are evaluating the potential adverse health risks of PFCs and other chemicals on neurobehavioral development and immune function.For example, a 2012 NIEHS-funded human study found that elevated PFC exposures during development were associated with reduced vaccine-induced immune protection in children.": https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/pease/documents/perflourinated_chemicals_508.pdf?utm_source=pocket_saves
"Why should this concern me so much? I thought having just binned a moderately expensive jacket to the waste (after approx. 5 years or so), because the synthetic lining had started to particulate and I was in danger of inspiring such (Teflon tasting muck). well truth's in the title, for such are "fluorinated" compounds and it was fluoride that ruined my life (and the effects of which nearly killed me on numerous occasions -in-fact the jury is still out on that one-), quote; "Fluoride treatments at the dentist's office are equally hazardous. In the typical fluoride treatment, 10,000 parts per million fluoride, which comes in a flavoured gel to make it taste good, is left on the teeth for about five minutes. Then the child spits it out, though invariable he swallows some. The child cannot rinse, eat or drink for at least half an hour afterward. Children have died after swallowing fluoride topically applied on their teeth. In one well publicized case, the dental hygienist neglected to tell the child to wash his mouth out and spit out the solution. The child began vomiting and sweating and died the same day*".."I am a victim of pre-pubescent dental clinical fluoride treatment myself (my story is sad, long and ongoing). These articles hint that there may be even higher costs to the patient/victim but don't make the connections (as "we" the victims don't anymore), however I can talk from my experience as-well and this has lead me to the conclusion that fluoride is a "whole system" disruptor and can be responsible for ailments as diverse as; fracturing, kidney failure/dysfunction, behavioural problems/brain damage, depression and suicide. What I have not seen however (or been able to find so far on-line), are the statistics, the epidemiological evidence which will prove (I now have no doubt), that many of the "victims" of clinical fluoride treatment are no longer with us. For one thing the behavioural changes induced by fluoride treatment are of such an uncontrollable and self-destructive nature that the patient may perish due to some apparently "self-induced" accident superficially unrelated to any dental treatment they may have received a decade or so before. Therefore it is necessary to examine the medical records of all of those patients who received clinical fluoride treatment as children and compare the statistics for the incidences of accidental "premature" deaths (esp. "self-induced" -not necessarily suicide at all but the suicide statistics MUST be examined as-well-), and serious injuries within the treated group with those for the same demographic within the wider population."