And why are we now hearing about them?
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PFAS and PFOS (pronounced generally as pee-fass and pee-fohs) are names you’re going to hear more and more. We use these chemicals everywhere – they’re in washing detergents, toothpaste, and most importantly in firefighting foam that is used on burning airplanes. They have recently been determined to cause cancer, even when the dose is insanely low. These chemicals build up in your body and don’t go away easily (some research shows that donating blood on a very regular basis might help). They do not break down in natural settings, and in the last few weeks we have apparently found them in dangerous levels in rainwater around the world.
When I say “insanely low” and “dangerous levels” we’re talking one part per *trillion*. Imagine ONE THOUSAND Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water, then put a couple drops of PFAS in there. That’s literally what testing levels are being set at right now. This is a big problem, and science hasn’t figured out what to do about it yet. It’s all very new, and you’ll be hearing about it for a long time.
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