Forever Chemicals: First Nationwide Ban of Toxic PFAS

Forever Chemicals

Canada may mark a new dawn of commitment to the health and well-being of millions of people by banning PFAS (Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances), also known as Forever Chemicals, an entire category of man-made chemicals widely used in consumer industries that evidence suggests can cause cancer.

These chemicals can be found in almost every product we use, from the clothes that we wear to everyday products such as paper, cardboard, food packaging, textiles, cosmetics, electronics, as well as fire-fighting foams and repellents.

According to an Environmental Health study, these chemicals are associated with increased liver disease, lowered antibody response in children, birth defects, and an increased susceptibility to kidney and testicular cancer.

This is the first time such a comprehensive ban is being considered in the country, and the shift to outright ban these chemicals may yet have untold benefits to our health and longevity.

Senior program manager of environmental defense Cassie Barker says: “Addressing the entire class of chemicals offers significant benefits. Instead of merely banning one specific chemical, which could potentially be slightly modified or replaced with a similar variation that may still pose problems, dealing with the entire class ensures a more comprehensive and effective approach”.

Due to the extensive use of these chemicals, PFAS in soil has recently become a study of interest amongst researchers, and these chemicals have also become present in drinking water. A study conducted by Health Canada emphasizes potential health risks associated with PFAS in drinking water when consumed over long periods of time.

However, the University of British Columbia has recently developed a treatment to completely break down these chemicals from drinking water.

This is an incredible breakthrough because up until now, these forever chemicals—as their name suggests—could not be broken down in either the human body or the environment. Even activated carbon used in many Brita filters fell short of completely filtering out these chemicals.

“We developed alternative absorbents to activated carbon that not only captures the long-chain PFAS, but also shorter-chain, so basically a wide spectrum of PFAS that might be in the water,” Madjid Mohseni, UBC professor tells Global News.

The engineers hope that the absorbent technology will be used in municipalities throughout the world and have already begun testing the technology throughout B.C. while the federal government of Canada is currently looking into regulating the use of forever chemicals after a 60-day draft assessment period—a period wherein information and evidence are looked at before action is taken for the possible PFAS ban.