A 50-year-old spoiler alert: At the end of “Soylent Green” — a classic 1973 science fiction movie directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young and Edward G. Robinson — the protagonist learns that human beings are being tricked by an evil corporation into eating human flesh....
Originally posted on salon.com
The term “forever chemical” might sound ominous, but there is a good reason for that. Formally known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), so-called forever chemicals are used in hundreds of common products for water-proofing and stain-resistance. They’re also linked to a tremendous number of health problems, including liver and fertility issues....
Originally posted on salon.com
You may not be able to see PFAS molecules around you, but they are ubiquitous: in our food, leaching into our water supplies, and in our blood. The class of water-resistant compounds used to make raincoats waterproof and nonstick pans stick-proof are also known as “forever chemicals,” so named because they do not naturally break down in the environment (or in our bloodstream)....
Originally posted on salon.com
Infertility is every hopeful parent’s worst nightmare. Defined as the inability of an individual to conceive within 12 months of engaging in regular unprotected intercourse, infertility impacts at least 186 million people in the world today. It is also on the rise — a fact that, as a recent study demonstrates, may be linked to the increasing prevalence of a class of chemicals so common, they are definitely in your body right now....
Originally posted on salon.com
No one would willingly drink a cup of carpet coating, shampoo or eye makeup — and yet, many of us routinely eat food that contains some of the same nasty chemicals. All of those aforementioned products contain a chemical called PFOS (short for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) — which are in turn part of a class of everyday chemicals known as PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) — and a new study in the scientific journal Environmental Research has disgusting news: Eating just a single serving of freshwater fish is like drinking a month’s worth of water laced with PFOS at harmfully high levels....
Originally posted on salon.com