If You're Worried About PFAS, You Need to Think About These 4 Things Now

Take your power back!

As a young mother, I wanted to find the best possible foods for my children. Their growing bodies needed proper nutrition. I was dedicated and determined to find the best that I could for them. 

I embarked on a journey that took me down many a wandering road. I studied history, learned about the ways regulations are used against us and in favor of the corporations, and eventually figured out ways to navigate our food system that worked for my family.

For years, I watched the government attack farmers for producing raw milk, or providing other nutrient dense food to their communities.

None of it made sense. Didn’t we all share a common goal of healthy food from small, sustainable farms?

My biggest realization over the years was the double standard at play. Small farms were throttled while industrial farms had exemptions left and right.

There is seemingly another double standard today: Forever chemicals.

Let me be perfectly clear upfront–these chemicals are a terrible idea for our earth, our bodies, and our food.

But they exist in abundance. By some estimates there are several thousand “forever chemicals” floating around in our environment, in our water, in our soils, and in our bodies.

These are chemicals we’ve all been living with for decades. Let’s start with some definitions. 

What are “forever chemicals?”

These are per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals – abbreviated as PFAS. 

They take a long time to break down (decades or centuries) due to their strong carbon-fluorine bond, hence the term “forever.” They are prevalent in our food, water, and bodies.

I wish we lived in a world where we did not have to think about these things–a world where we believed that clean water, soil and air were worth prioritizing.

But, alas, we do not. We live in a world filled with other people’s choices. And those choices bleed into our lives in ways we can and cannot control.

By all indications, PFAS are here to stay–at least for a long time–in our consumer goods. Our culture (and our world) has decided that we cannot live without them.

1. How many PFAS chemicals are there?

According to this article on Greenmatter.com:

The EPA PFAS website indicates that there are 9,252 chemicals under this category. The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) has isolated several of the most prevalent of these as PFNA, PFHxS, PFHxA, PFDA, PFOS, PFBS. PFOA, PFOS. If you can't understand that — don't worry — neither can we.

It would be more helpful to isolate the products that PFAS are most commonly found in, such as:

• Grease-resistant paper and other fast-food wrappers or containers.

• Microwave popcorn bags

• Pizza boxes

• Candy wrappers.

• Plastic water bottles

• Nonstick cookware

• Cleaning products

• Stain-resistant coatings for carpets or upholstery.

• Stain-resistant and water-resistant clothing.

• and most worrying of all, drinking water.

Add to their list, life saving products such as fire retardants and fire extinguishers.

Clearly, these chemicals are part of our lives by consumer choice and consumer demand. The convenience is too seductive.

2. Are "forever chemicals" in our food and on our farms?

The list above makes it easy to see how PFAS gets into our households and thus our water supply and bodies. But how do PFAS get into our food?

The main culprit: industrial sewage sludge, or the more appealing euphemism “biosolids,” applied to arable land as fertilizer.

You are probably thinking the reasonable thing here, “What a terrible idea to put sewage sludge on land that grows our food!”

You’re right. It IS a terrible policy.

What was once promoted by certain bureaucracies (and no doubt, industries) as a double solution for the disposal of waste products and a way to fertilize fields, was and still is a recipe for disaster. Not only does this policy divorce nature from natural systems, it introduces man-made toxins into our croplands that will take centuries, if not millennia, to break down. Meanwhile, these will be in our ecosystems, our food systems and our bodies the whole time.

3. Will enforcement against PFAS have a double standard against small farms?

My main concern, and the reason I am writing this, is because our state (and perhaps Federal) governments are using the presence of PFAS in soils to remove farmers from the land and condemn the land that we depend on for our food.

Be cautious anytime you see an alarming headline about PFAS. Yes, they are terrible chemicals. However, they are now ubiquitous. Why are small, independent farms being targeted to be shut down while these chemicals are prevalent in our water, in our homes, and in all kinds of consumer goods and packaging?

Think about this. And then think about it more.

If small (independent farms and smaller) and organic food companies are getting the headlines by testing for “high” levels of PFAS in their soil, or in their wrappers, ask more questions. Dig deeper. Ask for comparisons to larger industrial food companies. We are already suffering a lopsided approach that unfairly targets small farms and small businesses. How much more can we bear?

We must not allow the PFAS issue to become another double standard that shuts down even more of our small farmers that produce local food while the industrial giants don’t even test. All of this attention and force is used against small farms while we are–as a society–still embracing PFAS in our homes, in our take-out food containers, in our pots and pans and so much more.

Make no mistake: the double standard is a design to control who can and who cannot produce on the land, which land we can produce on, and who gets to decide.

1. How do we avoid PFAS?

If you want to start avoiding PFAS, you can easily start by trading in your non-stick pans for cast iron immediately.

It’s okay, in fact it is necessary, to keep supporting small local farms. Supporting these farms is the only way we can continue to have food security in our communities. There is no other way!

If you are concerned about PFAS in your food or in your body, then the first and best step you can take is to remove these chemicals from your home. If this feels daunting (you are not alone), then start small. Trade in your non stick pans for sturdy, healthy cast iron or stainless steel. Yes, you’ll have to scrub harder, but it’s worth it to not have these chemicals constantly flaking off in the food as you cook it. Start small: get rid of the ones that already have blemishes or are already flaking or scratched.

The next step? Keep eating your veggies, your fermented food, healthy probiotics, and healthy fats. Drink clean filtered water. Our bodies are amazing! We already know that our bodies can and do pass these chemicals with our waste. So give your body a boost by strengthening your gut microbiome. 

In a world full of other people’s choices forced upon us, you can take these steps starting today, that you have power over. Exercise your power now!