Forever chemicals go by a lot of names: PFAS, PFOA, PFOS, NTFE, per- and polyfluoroalkyl, TEFLON, etc. There are thousands of different names for them in this family of chemicals.
"I think to date there are more than 14,000 identified PFAS," says Leslie Hamilton, the Assistant Program Manager at Johns Hopkins Research and Development Exploratory Mission Area at the Applied Physics Lab.
"They are this miracle chemical that is non-stick, non-reactive, resilient to heat, resistance to oil, resistant to water and therefore been used in a lot of industrial processes."
They can make you and your family sick because they are carcinogenic to humans, cause cancer, and cause other health issues—even in small quantities.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency may lead to:
- Decreased fertility
- Developmental effects or delays in children
- Increased risk of some cancers; prostate, kidney and testicular
- Hormone changes
- Increased cholesterol
- Risk of obesity
"Once they are released into the environment, they tend to stick around, and this is unfortunate because they have been shown to bioaccumulate in various organisms and plants," Hamilton said.
"We're still trying to understand the effect, but all of the PFAS species that have been studied extensively are linked to detrimental health effects."
And you can find them everywhere.
"So, you can find PFAS in fast food packaging, in stain-resistant carpet," Hamilton said.
This goes for non-stick pots and pans, waterproof lipstick and mascara, in firefighting foams, and on your clothing as well.
As there are thousands of versions of these chemicals, there is no 'one way' to say they are created, but one thing they all have in common is they have carbon-fluorine bonds throughout—and this bond is essentially unbreakable.
"The carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest bonds known in organic chemistry, and I heard someone recently say it takes the energy of lightning to break it," Hamilton said.
"They are not vulnerable to any natural degradation processes."
This leads to the issue of cleanup.
"These same that make them such amazing chemicals for these various industrial processes also makes them extremely resilient in the environment," Hamilton said.
