PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax

Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by TimD1 on Sunday January 26, 2020 @05:31PM (#22155277)

As someone who has waxed with HF wax several dozen times in the past (collegiate nordic ski racer) with no face mask and mediocre room ventilation, how worried should I be about long-term side effects?

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by topspin on Sunday January 26, 2020 @07:05PM (#22155791)

The average US citizen has a large load of PFAS in their blood[1] from clothing, carpet, water and other sources. The levels have dropped a great deal in the last 20 years but it's unlikely you've increased your levels much beyond what you already had from other sources.

[1] https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/pfas-blood-testing.html

The blood serum levels reported by CDC are staggering. As an example, I have a well and it's in a contamination plume of PFOS and PFOA. The EPA certified laboratory measured level two years ago was 11 ppt (parts per trillion.) The CDC measured 2.1 ug/L of PFOA (only) in the blood of over 2000 people in 2014. That's 2,100,000 ppt; 5 orders of magnitude higher than my 'contaminated' water.

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by steve_g on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @06:55AM (#22168528)

I think 2.1 ug/l is 2100 parts per trillion (where "trillion" means 10E+12)

A ug is 10E-6 grams, a liter is about 10E+3 grams.

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by randycupertino on Sunday January 26, 2020 @06:27PM (#22155602)

Try not to let it get to you- No use worrying over something that already happened which you can't change.

Also, it's in our drinking water currently anyways, so if you want to stress out about PFAS might as well do it over something we can change going forward: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-water-foreverchemical...

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by hanniabu on Sunday January 26, 2020 @07:01PM (#22155780)

From the article:

> In 2018 a draft report from an office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the risk level for exposure to the chemicals should be up to 10 times lower than the 70 PPT threshold the EPA recommends. The White House and the EPA had tried to stop the report from being published.

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by nate_meurer on Monday January 27, 2020 @01:42AM (#22157284)

If it makes you feel any better, we're all in the same boat with you. Like really, all of us. We're all swimining in the stuff. Almost all water-repellent outdoor clothing, and all clothing, furniture, and carpeting that's marketed as "stain repellent" is coated with PFAS's. Those of us grew up in the 70's, 80's, or 90's crawled, played and slept on rugs and carpets that were coated with the original formula of ScotchGard, which was pretty much straight PFOS.

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Re:PFAS “Forever Chemicals” and Nordic Ski Wax by refurb on Sunday January 26, 2020 @09:30PM (#22156432)

You are exposed to multiple toxic and carcinogenic compounds in daily life. There is no way you can eliminate them completely.

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