My family tolerates my weirdness remarkably well after all these years.
Like it or not, they’ve adapted to my sometimes-eccentric efforts to reduce plastics in the world, such as insisting on bar shampoo, reusing plastic bags until they develop holes and avoiding the bottled-water aisle in the grocery store like the plague (which it most certainly is).
They especially know not to assume actual yogurt resides in the numerous yogurt containers in my refrigerator. The reuse ethic results in occasional bewilderment upon lifting the lids — some leftover spaghetti here, half an onion there, a few nightcrawlers for the grandkids’ fishing expeditions.
So, breakfast can be full of surprises.
Still, despite my commitment to plastic resistance, I would bet my last water filter that my blood is as thoroughly contaminated with PFAS and other plastics chemicals as everyone else’s. Studies have found 98% of blood samples tested across America were laced with so-called forever chemicals.
They’re even found in breast milk and umbilical cords.
They’re particularly hard to avoid because the toxins are flippin’ everywhere.
That old GOR-TEX rain jacket you bought in 2005? It’s coated with the stuff. Your stain-resistant carpet. Your nonstick frying pan. Your fast-food hamburger packaging. The turf on which your kids play soccer. The soccer ball. Your ski wax. The snow. Your lipstick. Your mascara. Your dental floss. Your tampons.
The chemicals are associated with higher cholesterol levels and elevated liver enzymes, lower birthweights, pregnancy complications, higher levels of testicular and kidney cancers, and lower antibody results from vaccines — possibly contributing to the rampant spread of COVID in this country during the pandemic.
They are ubiquitous. Even if you lived on the moon you’d likely be exposed to them since they’re widely used in aeronautical equipment.
Colorado is among a handful of states trying to rein in perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAs), which are costing taxpayers endless billions to remove from soils and public water systems.
Over significant Republican opposition, a measure passed in 2022 that banned sales of dozens of products laced with forever chemicals.
In a nod to industry pressure, the legislature postponed the effective date to this year so PFA-laced products already in stock could be sold at a profit and disposed of in our bodies.
This session, another bill is under consideration. It would expand the list of products included in the ban.
It also would repeal the exemptions for oil and gas production facilities that use firefighting foam laced with the chemicals. The foam is implicated in widespread contamination of water supplies across the state. Weld County’s water systems are particularly vulnerable due to the intense oil and gas development in the area.
Opposition to the bill is led by, among others, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, which defends the right of businesses to profit from toxic forever chemicals.
The American Chemistry Council also opposes the bill, arguing, among other things, that it isn’t necessary because the industry is moving quickly to develop safer alternatives.
That’s terrific, of course, but I’m skeptical that the transition away from PFAs would be happening without the aggressive regulatory actions that have occurred in a dozen U.S. states and the European Union.
My skepticism is well earned, after all. The narrative arc of the PFA story is hardly unique.
It closely resembles that of DDT, which went from a miracle product to eradicate mosquitoes and reduce the spread of malaria in the 1940s to banned in the U.S. in 1972.
Its creator, Paul Hermann Muller, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948. He was considered a hero.
Then in 1962, Rachel Carson, facing scathing ridicule and hostility from the chemical industry, published her meticulously researched book, “Silent Spring.” It outlined the widespread catastrophic impacts of DDT on animal life, including humans.
The pesticide had infiltrated the food chain, she reported, and it had accumulated in the fatty tissues of all of us, causing genetic damage and cancer. It was in the soil, the water and the air.
Bird life was so dramatically affected, the bald eagle was threatened with extinction.
And yet, it took 10 years for policymakers to address the problems outlined in Carson’s remarkable book. They had to overcome fierce resistance before they could summon the courage to act.
So, here we are again and just like the business interests in the 1960s, the Chamber of Commerce folks think we don’t need to ban PFAs.
Too expensive, too radical, too inconvenient … too late, they argue.
Same old tired arguments.
Meanwhile, the nation is spending a fortune annually in what even the chemical industry suggests may well be a futile effort to get the forever chemicals out of our water supplies given the widespread contamination of, well, everything.
Alas, maybe it’s time to send the people from the chamber and the chemical industry a message.
I suggest a little gift, a few boxes of contaminated tampons … and a suggestion for exactly what to do with them.
Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.
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