M9.2: Six Chemical Classes

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The Six Chemical Classes are: highly fluorinated, antimicrobials, flame retardants, bisphenols and phthalates, some solvents, and certain metals. 

 I find it surprising that there are a lot of products I currently use that fall under these categories. I explored the highly fluorinated category in more depth and found that non-stick pots and pans have this chemicals. Therefore, there is some ingestion in the highly fluorinated chemicals in addition to skin absorption. The other interesting piece of information I collected was that highly fluorinated chemicals reduces the protection from vaccines. This is worrisome as we need herd immunity to minimize the spread of disease, especially for those who are unable to get vaccines because of compromised immune systems.

 Overall, I think many of these classes were meant to aid us and protect us from harm such as the antimibrobials and flame retardants, however they do more harm to people and the environment. Precautions such as washing hands and better disposal of fire-products can reduce the need for such materials. 

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 30, 2018 at 7:54 PM

    Hi Daisy,
    We hear all of the time that fluoride is good for everyone's teeth, but it is shocking that it is also in our non-stick pots and pans! The amount that we have in our water is fine, but when you add it to other things that we are exposed to it might not be safe.
    Thank you for your post!
    Kera

    ReplyDelete

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