Avoiding PFAS "Forever Chemicals" in Products and Our Food Supply

100 Watervliet Ave,Albany NY 12206

05 January, 2023

Description

This workshop, sponsored by the Environment Committee at Honest Weight, will give you the tools to make more informed decisions to protect yourself and your family from PFAS exposure in your household. It will also provide background for safeguarding our food system from these highly toxic, persistent manmade substances. The workshop will start with a brief history of the PFAS class of chemicals and an overview of their characteristics and documented health impacts, which include cancers and kidney and liver damage. Then we’ll consider the surprising range of consumer products that contain PFAS and go over tips for avoiding PFAS-containing products. Finally, we will explore the potential sources of PFAS contamination in our food and in farm and garden soils and the actions we can take to protect ourselves and the food system. For example, sewage sludge-based fertilizers and composts are spread over millions of acres of farmland. However sewage sludge is contaminated with dangerous levels of PFAS, from the above mentioned consumer products and other sources. (The use of sewage sludge is prohibited in certified organic agriculture.)