A new Netflix documentary titled, “The Devil We Know,” tells the story of DuPont’s decades-long cover-up of the harm caused by chemicals used to make its popular non-stick Teflon™ products. The film shows how the chemicals used to make Teflon poisoned people and the environment—not just in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where DuPont had a Teflon plant, but all over the world.
It all began in 1945, when DuPont, renamed DowDuPont following its 2017 merger with Dow Chemical, began manufacturing Teflon, a product best known for its use in non-stick cookware, but also widely used in a variety of other consumer products, including waterproof clothing and furniture, food packaging, self-cleaning ovens, airplanes and cars.
One of the key ingredients in DuPont’s Teflon was C8, a toxic, man-made chemical created by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, better known as 3M, to make Scotchgard. The chemical, also known as PFOS or PFOA, is what gave Teflon its non-stick properties.
Both 3M and DuPont were well aware of the health hazards associated with C8. But that didn’t stop DuPont from dumping the toxic chemical into local waterways, where it made its way into public drinking water and subsequently sickened thousands of people, and ultimately killing many of them.
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Most diapers and sanitary pads contain volatile organic compounds and phthalates and with this continued, long-term exposure a significant amount of these harmful chemicals could be absorbed via the genitals, according to a new study.
The study was spurred by an investigation from South Korean media outlets in 2017 that found new sanitary pads might be causing menstrual problems and irregularities and was broadened to the U.S. and other countries. More than 15,000 women complained and signed onto a class action lawsuit claiming harm from menstrual pads by the company Lillian. The pads were removed from the market. Women alleged rashes, infections, irregular periods and bad cramping.
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In the largest verdict yet to hit pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, a jury awarded $4.69 billion to 22 women who allege the company's talcum powder caused their ovarian cancer. This includes $550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages.
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The antimicrobial chemical triclosan is in thousands of products that we use daily: hand soaps, toothpastes, body wash, kitchenware and even some toys. Work in our lab suggests that this compound may have widespread health risks, including aggravating inflammation in the gut and promoting the development of colon cancer by altering the gut microbiota, the community of microbes found in our intestines.
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We live in a world where toxic chemicals that haven’t been tested for safety are lurking everywhere, including in our food, drinking water, personal care products, household cleaners, furniture, clothing, children’s toys and many other items. Chronic exposure to these chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs),is making us sick in ways we don’t yet fully understand, says green living expert and Mamavation.com founder Leah Segedie in her new book, “Green Enough: Eat Better, Live Cleaner, Be Happier.”
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It’s all a matter of language, in the end. Take toiletries: what the manufacturers might term “personal care products”, scientists such as Khang Huynh of the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at Michigan State University, US, could call “emerging organic contaminants”.
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A jury in Middlesex County, New Jersey, awarded $30 million in compensatory damages on Thursday to a man who got cancer after decades of using talcum powder. His wife was awarded $7 million in damages.
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Beautycounter enlists its sales team to fight for better regulation in the beauty industry. It’s part of a wave of activist brands taking on Washington.
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Although automobile emissions are declining, contributions to air pollution from household products is rising, now estimated to be 50 percent of volatile organic compound (VOC) air pollution. Once VOCs migrate outside your home they react with nitrogen oxides and heat, transforming into ozone, and when exposed to sunlight, the VOCs transform into fine particulate matter. Researchers find those who use cleaning sprays as seldom as once a week for 20 years suffer similar decline in lung function as those who smoke a pack a day for 10 to 20 years.
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We are blessed with a vast variety of choices in our lives, from food and clothing to home, office, and personal health products. But along with all the choice comes a responsibility to make wise, informed decisions—which means we need to recognize ingredients in these items that may be harmful to our health.
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