The “Forever Chemical” PFAS Remains a Problem For You and Your Pet

Although a global pandemic and a massive economic crisis have dominated our lives, many other issues remain under the surface waiting to be addressed yet again.

One of those is the high levels of PFAS and the related “forever chemicals” that have been found in Michigan residents’ water and household items.

One local environmental reporter who has been following the problem of PFAS contamination was curious about how much of the chemical could be lying around his home in common household items like aluminum foil, nonstick pans, rugs and winter boots.

Perkins says, “I started looking around and seeing all these different products that they’re (PFAS) sometimes used in and after awhile it as like, man, am I just being poisoned by a steady drip of these chemicals in my everyday life?”

With that in mind, he had his blood and that of his cat, Ling Ling, tested. What he found was alarming.

“Blood tests revealed four types of PFAS compounds in my and Ling Ling’s blood. They’re among the most common used by industry, and three exceeded the median U.S. blood levels for adult humans,” Perkins writes for Great Lakes Now.

Click the audio player to hear Perkins talk about discovering the extent of PFAs contamination in his home.

Watch journalist Tom Perkins test products around his house for PFAS in this video by Great Lakes Now:

Perkins says in order to reduce the amount of the chemical in his household items he’s gotten rid of some of the items that he found PFAS in and he purchased a water filter that removes short and long-chain PFAS.

However, he says making the largest change in how much PFAS is in your life is to push lawmakers to ban the chemical on a widespread basis. “The only solution is a virtual ban on the federal or state level, which we’re starting to see be discussed…it has to happen at the policy level,” Perkins says.