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- Is PFAS the new "power lines cause cancer"?
Here's an article(labeled as opinion) I just read from CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/opinions/chemicals-in-clothes-harmful-health-wicker/index.html
This OP is only a starting point; I intend to look into the issue more deeply. But from what I see, this article (not unique these days) is heavy on fearmongering, light on research connecting the fear to reality. I was tempted to title the thread "PFAS is the New Homeopathy?" but we're not quite there yet.
For reference, the EPA's maximum allowable concentration of arsenic in drinking water, is 10 ppb. These are the sorts of concentration levels being implied are able to cause cancer from PFAS. For the main thrust of the article though, it's clothes and they don't say anything about how PFAS from clothes might get into the bloodstream. Presumably people are rolling up their shirts and smoking them? Or perhaps PFAS Tea?
This issue hits home a bit more because several Philadelphia Phillies veterans have come down with cancer, and the old Veterans Stadium turf was apparently made with PFAS. Presumably the Phillies were grinding the grass up and smoking it? The Philly Inquirer doesn't say how the exposure could happen in its article series about the issue. It's a sad human interest story mainly, with only an implied villain. Must be the PFAS:
https://www.inquirer.com/news/inq2/...ioblastoma-cancer-phillies-1980-20230307.html
https://www.inquirer.com/news/pfas-...oblastoma-reddit-ama-20230314.html?query=pfas
The article above mentions BPA. BPA was used in plastic bottles. That provides a clear vehicle for exposure: BPA leaches into the water, and then you drink it. No such mechanism is suggested for clothes.
In the 1970s, a crackpot scientist and reporter (IIRC) made their names on a spurious claim that power lines cause cancer. My gut tells me we're dealing with a modern version of it here, with PFAS.
edit:
A specific claim:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/opinions/chemicals-in-clothes-harmful-health-wicker/index.html
This OP is only a starting point; I intend to look into the issue more deeply. But from what I see, this article (not unique these days) is heavy on fearmongering, light on research connecting the fear to reality. I was tempted to title the thread "PFAS is the New Homeopathy?" but we're not quite there yet.
For reference, the EPA's maximum allowable concentration of arsenic in drinking water, is 10 ppb. These are the sorts of concentration levels being implied are able to cause cancer from PFAS. For the main thrust of the article though, it's clothes and they don't say anything about how PFAS from clothes might get into the bloodstream. Presumably people are rolling up their shirts and smoking them? Or perhaps PFAS Tea?
This issue hits home a bit more because several Philadelphia Phillies veterans have come down with cancer, and the old Veterans Stadium turf was apparently made with PFAS. Presumably the Phillies were grinding the grass up and smoking it? The Philly Inquirer doesn't say how the exposure could happen in its article series about the issue. It's a sad human interest story mainly, with only an implied villain. Must be the PFAS:
https://www.inquirer.com/news/inq2/...ioblastoma-cancer-phillies-1980-20230307.html
https://www.inquirer.com/news/pfas-...oblastoma-reddit-ama-20230314.html?query=pfas
The article above mentions BPA. BPA was used in plastic bottles. That provides a clear vehicle for exposure: BPA leaches into the water, and then you drink it. No such mechanism is suggested for clothes.
In the 1970s, a crackpot scientist and reporter (IIRC) made their names on a spurious claim that power lines cause cancer. My gut tells me we're dealing with a modern version of it here, with PFAS.
edit:
A specific claim:
The linked article:For example, research by Notre Dame professor Dr. Graham Peaslee shows that PFAS comes off of treated textiles at the parts-per-million level. That’s 1,000 times more. [than ppb!]
It's unclear to me what the CNN claim is actually referring to.Though scientists have not yet learned if PFASs can transfer to the human body simply by coming in contact with the skin....
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