Why do we use PFAS if they are harmful?

Here’s a very brief list of things we use PFAS for:

• Teflon pans
• Microwave popcorn bags
• Firefighting foam
• Waterproof rain jackets

Whew, that’s the stuff you heard about in the news, right.  Well, those uses account for less than 1% of annual PFAS uses. Still think that PFAS don’t affect your life?  Here’s some other uses that are closer to home¹:

• Mascara
• Tampons
• Dental floss
• Food wrappers
• Pizza boxes
• Other non-stick cookware
• Clothes and shoes
• Semiconductor manufacturing
• Flooring and floor polish
• Building materials
• Carpets
• Artificial turf
• Guitar strings
• Coolant fluid
• Rocket fuel

Now tell me that there’s not something in that list you haven’t smeared against your face or skin on in the last week.  PFAS are so great, they have made your life better in innumerable ways.  That time you cried and your mascara didn’t run?  PFAS.  That time you smeared pizza grease on your shirt and it didn’t stain forever?  PFAS.  Your dental floss being oh, so nice and slippery?  PFAS. 

The widespread use of PFAS isn’t necessarily malicious.  It’s partly because the stuff is so darn useful. It can make things durable, water-proof, grease-proof, or slippery. 

In addition to being in the great stuff you personally use, PFAS is also used to ease the process of making your stuff.  It’s non-stick properties also help molded stuff like kids toys pop out of the mold nicely and extruded stuff like plastic containers not stick to the equipment used to make them.  PFAS help make super thin films used to chrome plate parts of your car or fabricate tiny semiconductors for your computer.

When engineers build stuff, top priorities include a.) “works well”, b.) “is cheap”, and c.) “is something people like.”  The order varies by brand and market.  But “degrades in the environment so it doesn’t poison future generations” isn’t usually a priority.  And while “not going to slowly kill a lot of people” is getting there as a criteria, this is often driven by environmental health regulation rather than design.

Luckily, a recent study found readily available replacements for 210 out of 261 product areas where PFAS are used⁴. And use restrictions (laws limiting PFAS use in products) are typically starting with catogeries of products with readily available alternatives. These are places where we don’t need to be using PFAS, like food packaging, textiles and carpets, cookware, cosmetics, and menstrual products. Happily, these are also some of the PFAS-laden products we touch most often.

What the sciencey shit?

[1] ECHA. (2023). Annex A:  Manufacture and Uses, Annex XV Proposal to Restrict PFAS, v2. https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/d2f7fce1-b089-c4fd-1101-2601f53a07d1

[2] Scheringer, M., Cousins, I. T., & Goldenman, G. (2024). Is a Seismic Shift in the Landscape of PFAS Uses Occurring? Environmental Science & Technology, 58(16), 6843–6845. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c01947