Scientists are sounding the alarm: the use of PFAS must be banned. The stuff accumulates in the entire food chain (plants and animals) and can hardly be broken down. Result: it is in our body, it is in the soil, it is in our drinking water. Does this mean the end of the non-stick frying pan?
PFAS is a substance that, among other things, ensures that the material becomes water, dirt and/or grease repellent. It is therefore in many different products. Examples abound: water-repellent clothing, pans with a non-stick coating, outdoor sportswear, lubricants for bicycle chains, ski wax and pizza boxes. Some make-up and cosmetics also contain PFAS, as do extinguishing foam, carpet and carpet cleaner.
Why ban?
Several international studies indicate that some PFAS compounds may be carcinogenic. They can also affect the immune system. A number of those PFAS compounds have already been banned, but there are also hundreds of compounds about which science still knows too little. In order to rule out risks, science is therefore now calling for the use of PFAS to be restricted as much as possible – it should only be allowed for medically necessary applications. Such a drastic curtailment makes it much more difficult for the chemical industry to replace one PFAS compound with another ‘much safer’ compound. In practice, it has already been shown that such a so-called safe PFAS variant was not so safe at all.
RIVM: ‘little risk’
In principle, you do not have to worry immediately if you put your egg in a pan with non-stick coating bakes. According to the RIVM – that all developments in the field of PFAS closely – there is little risk with normal exposure to PFAS. The amount of PFAS in consumer products is very small.
It will be different if there is long-term exposure. People living in the vicinity of the Dupont/Chemours factory in Dordrecht have been exposed to PFOA (a PFAS variant) for a long time in the past. Here too, however, the RIVM is taking a stand: ‘the long-term exposure may have health risks led’.
Prefer no more PFAS?
To find out if your favorite products contain a variant of PFAS, you can check with the manufacturer or supplier. Every manufacturer or supplier is legally obliged to answer your question about PFAS within 45 days. And on the international website PFAS Central you will find an overview of producers who no longer use PFAS.
Sources:
Volkskrant
RIVM
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