Killing them softly with your pans.
Are you feeding your family toxic chemicals?
Did you know that the dark coating on your pans was toxic? Or that it got into the environment, into the water, and into your food? Unsurprisingly, it then gets into people. When it does, it has been linked to a range of chronic and deadly diseases, from cancer to colitis. It’s also in your pizza boxes, muffin casings, sweet wrappers, grease-proof paper, takeaway bags, and coffee cups. And it causes, or contributes to, a burgeoning burden of sickness.
Most non-stick coatings are made from poly fluoroalkyl substances (or per fluoroalkyl substances), usually known by the acronym PFAS. There are thousands of different types. Like many toxic substances that were introduced recklessly as wonderful innovations, PFAS have been around for a long time. Since the 1930s, in fact. Now, they are so ubiquitous, they’ve been found at the top of mountains and the bottom of oceans. And they stick around for a very long time.
PFAS aren’t solely used in products that come into contact with food, either. In fact, they’ve been used everywhere from shampoo to pesticides, the foam used in fire extinguishers, and for making stain-resistant coatings for clothes and soft-furnishings. It’s likely that we have produced so much, the damage they are going to cause will be unavoidable, even if we stopped producing them immediately. Which won’t happen because red tape and regulation are the enemies of progress. And what wonderful progress it is!
Some diseases associated with this ubiquitous, toxic substance include:
• Thyroid disease
• Cancer, including testicular, kidney, and increase risk of childhood cancer
• Hormone dysfunction
• Immune dysfunction
• Asthma
• Increased cholesterol
• Preeclampsia
• Abnormal fetal development
• Ulcerative colitis
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Diabetes
One of the reasons the substance is so effective is its resistance to breaking down. This also means it will persist in the environment for a long time. Millennia, in fact. Unless it is dealt as hazardous waste, it doesn’t matter where it is disposed of, it will still hang around and seep into the environment over time; most will end up in landfill. So, even when not in production, it will contaminate the food chain and continue to end up on our plates anyway. And it accumulates in the body, including the brain, making it a likely candidate for contributing to neurological disorders and mental health problems.
While some nations have, or are, taking action to prevent the use of some variants of PFAS, there are thousands of similar chemicals in use across the globe. The substances used to replace them are rarely tested in advance, either. In fact, chemical producing companies, and the companies that profit from using them, often lobby against regulation and red tape, continuing to produce thousands of novel substances every year. Most are never tested for long-term effects on human health. The people who produce them, and those who profit from them, rarely pay for the damage they cause. In a culture which exalts short-term focus on individual gain, why would they? This is one of the core reasons that chronic disease and cancer are on the rise.
Info:
https://www.pfasfree.org.uk/about-pfas
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