“Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month's worth of water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals"...” according to an article from Phys.org.

When I retired 18 years ago, my goal was to fish every day. Like many retirees, I have been too busy and this last fall as I prepared myself to start my dream, this headline appears. I have the fishing equipment. I have found two places close to where I live to fish. But no problem. A map is enclosed with the article and my area is not listed. Most of the areas are around industrial sites. These sites are scattered all over the U.S. and there are only 57,412 locations (only ?)spread across all 50 states and the District of Colombia.

Forever Chemicals (PFAS) are everywhere. They are in the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, in our clothes, in food packaging and even in the rain that falls around the world. Even in the rain, the amounts are above levels considered healthy. Daily Kos ran an article and listed what the Forever Chemicals do to our health:

“Testicular, kidney, liver, and pancreatic cancer

Reproductive problems

Weakened childhood immunity

Low birth weight

Endocrine disruption

Increased cholesterol

Weight gain in children and dieting adults”

There are some 12,000 forever chemicals. These are “synthetic chemicals, which have been used for decades across a wide range of industries to make coatings and products resistant to heat, water, or stains.” This is from EuroNews. and they go on to report that toxic chemicals are occurring in breast milk. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise as it is in our rainwater and even found in the Antarctic. Just as depressing, school uniforms have been found to have elevated levels of PFAS’s .

The pesticides sprayed on our crops have PFAS’s in them and we don’t even know why. Then the PFAS’s actually enter the food we eat. One of the foods affected the most are oat based foods. Think of breakfast foods that we serve our children and how many of them include oats. This has become such a concerning problem that the EPA, according to the Environmental Working Group:

“the Environmental Protection Agency proposed designating the two most common toxic “forever chemicals” – PFOA and PFOS – as “hazardous substances” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA, better known as Superfund. This designation will help the EPA hold polluters accountable and jump-start the cleanup process at sites around the country.”

This does not prohibit the manufacture or use of these chemicals!

We as individuals can take matters into our own hands. A year-long study on firefighters in Australia found that giving blood or donating platelets on a regular basis decreased the amounts of PFAS in their bodies. As adults, many of us can help save lives while contributing to our lifespan and health.

When it comes to what we wear and the cosmetics that we use on our skin, their are sites that specialize on safe products. Even clothing can be purchased that has less chemicals applied.

In addition, we can buy less food that is processed and sold in containers. Even some fast food wrappers have been found to have PFAS chemicals within. When available, organic produced food will be less apt to have these chemicals applied. This does not eliminate the problem of water.

As mentioned above, even rainwater is polluted. In addition, most water we drink at some point will be involved with runoff from farms or industrial factories. Bottled water and municipal water systems do not remove these poisons. Bottled water may even flake off these toxic chemicals into the water itself. We make coffee, tea and boil our vegetables and grains in water. There are a few water filters that remove Forever Chemicals, but it is rare to find one which will remove heavy metals like lead and pesticide residue in one product.

We don’t know all the negatives to our bodies from the toxic products introduced. We know even less the accumulated affect and interaction of the multitude of toxic chemicals introduced.