Toxic PFAS, the “everywhere chemicals,” are in organic pasta sauce and ketchup, drugs, pesticides, and foodware

By Jessian Choy | Sierra | June 8, 2022

Read the full article by Jessian Choy (Sierra)

“A raft of new studies have found that certain foods may not be as safe as we think. Organic pasta sauce and ketchup, common medicines and drugs such as Flonase nasal spray, Prozac, and Cipro, and even the basic packaging in which our foods are wrapped were found to be contaminated with a toxic class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. These chemicals are getting into our bodies, our drinking water, our everyday foods—even in some labeled ‘organic.’

This should matter to all of us. Exposure to these ‘forever chemicals’ (so named because of how long it takes for the chemicals to degrade in nature: forever) has been linked to a wide variety of health conditions such as reduced vaccination response, obesity and diabetes, and an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, cancers, miscarriage, cardiovascular disease, allergies, and asthma. PFAS exposure may even increase the likelihood of COVID-19 infection (and more serious symptoms) and increase cholesterol levels (which is ironic, as PFAS have been discovered in the COVID-19 medicine Paxlovid and cholesterol drugs like Lipitor).

In 2019 I first wrote about PFAS in paper-based food contact materials (wraps and liners, pizza boxes, pastry bags, laminated cake boards, and microwave popcorn bags). Then in 2020 I discovered through an independent lab test that the toxic chemicals were in a brand of menstrual underwear I used."

This content provided by the PFAS Project.