You Make Me Sick

I’m ready to go 100% organic (not just part-time organic) and grow all my own food and never buy anything from the store….

Hey! Another thing to get incensed about. Watch “Dark Waters” or read lengthy articles in the New Yorker entitled “You Make Me Sick” and you’ll know what I mean. To summarize: the leaders of the corporate world are actively, at any given moment, trying to get away with murder. Literally.

Did you know your body is reeking with PFASs? They’re 8-carbon chain molecules that are impossible to break and they’re called “forever chemicals”. Completely manmade. Don’t exist in nature. Cause all manner of problems.

Scientists created a chemical compound capable of repelling both water and oil in the 1940s. They believed it was a revolution in materials sciences and it was.

That class of chemical compounds, called per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), were quickly used to create useful domestic products like Teflon and dental floss, along with industrial agents like firefighting foam. They even found use in parts of the Manhattan Project.

Decades later, PFAS are still around. Because of their impressive surface density, these “forever chemicals” don’t break down in either the human body or nature, causing health concerns like cancer, thyroid disease and reproductive impairment.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that most people in the United States have been exposed to PFAS in some capacity. Exposure happens when touching, eating, drinking or breathing in materials containing PFAS, commonly from drinking water, waste sites, and consumer products.

Even if we were able to immediately stop the use of PFAs, what we’ve already put out there are going to be with us a really long time.

The only way to limit one’s risk of contamination is granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis filters to reduce PFAS levels in drinking water. It’s too late to do anything about what you’ve already got in you. What you got, you’ve got.

Where are they found? Pretty much everywhere.

Yep, you guessed it. There’s PFASs in those french fry containers.

• Cleaning products, degreasers for appliances, carpet and floors, counters and other surfaces, glass, restrooms, toilet bowls, and vehicles, as well as furniture and metal polish.
• Water-resistant fabrics, such as rain jackets, umbrellas and tents.
• Grease-resistant paper as in compostable food service ware: molded fiber plates, bowls, trays, clamshells, and portion cups, as well as non- plastic deli wraps and bags.
• Nonstick cookware: frying pots, pans, baking sheets, waffle irons, air fryers.
• Personal care products: shampoo, dental floss, nail polish, and eye makeup, foam and lotion products.
• Stain-resistant coatings used on carpets and carpet tile, broadloom carpet, and carpet padding, upholstery, and other fabrics, ceiling tiles, insulation, and wallboard.

Effects

Increased cholesterol levels, decreased vaccine response in children, changes in liver enzymes, increased risk of high blood pressure, increased risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, decrease in infant birth weights, increased risk of testicular or kidney cancer.

So, there ya go. Like the guy in Dark Waters said: we gotta take care of ourselves because they aren’t going to.