Is "forever" chemicals a stupid name for these things? I've seen a few different articles about how these things can be decomposed. I guess it's "forever" because there are no know "natural" processes that break these things down ?
silica could even be described as a 'carcinogenic forever chemical'. inhaling silica dust is almost certainly worse for you than inhaling teflon dust. should people who want to avoid forever chemicals move someplace without naturally occurring silica?
to the extent that they're actually 'forever' they're pretty inert and not much of a problem. the likely pollution problem is not teflon (though maybe it behaves differently as nanoparticles) but the much less inert species like pfoa, which have significant toxicity precisely because they're less stable
On the timelines that they are stable, the risk is that they will enter the food chain bioaccumulation will poison everything.
The chemicals are probably used in condoms to help latex repel moisture and liquid. [1]
This is where trust in intuitions is breaking down in my opinion, all through high school it's "always wear a condom", which is yes, good advice, but now it turns out your condom was poisoning you and your partner ?
Penis and vagina skin is thin and the organs have a high level of blood vessels, which makes them particularly dangerous organs to expose to PFAS, Linda Birnbaum, a science adviser for Mamavation who previously ran the Environmental Protection Agency’s toxicology program, wrote in the report.
“The vagina and penis are incredibly vascular areas and dermal exposure to these areas are often higher than other places of the body,” Birnbaum said.
How these products were allowed to proliferate literally everywhere with so little oversight is absolutely crazy to me.
I have seen fire fighters discharge this stuff into rivers for "training". The river is now closed for swimming due to dangerous levels of chemicals.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/28/...