[EDITORIAL] Fluoropolymers and nanomaterials, the invisible hazards of cell phone and computer touchscreens
By Ye Jia, Jie Han, and Eric Lichtfouse
Environ Chem Lett
December 11, 2024
DOI: 10.1007/s10311-024-01797-1
In The Name of the Rose, first published as a book by Umberto Eco in 1980, then adapted in a film starring Sean Connery in 1986, a nonconformist friar investigates mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey to find out that all monks who attempted to read the secret ‘Book of Revelation’ died because the book pages were poisoned. Recent proliferation of electronic touchscreens, which are now widely used on phones, computers, board screens, and other “smart displays”, creates a new unintended route of human exposure to harmful chemical substances during screen touching. Here, after presenting the brief history and chemistry of touchscreens, we explain why per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and nanomaterials used as anti-smudge coatings are likely to impregnate fingers. Phone addicts, “zombie eaters”, and digit-sucking toddlers are at high risk.
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