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4. Forever Chemicals: Why You Should Care About PFAS

• Dr. Ina Nozek, Dr. Glenn Nozek • Season 1 • Episode 4

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Ever wonder what “forever chemicals” are—and why everyone’s so worried about them? In this episode of The Toxic Truth About Water, Drs. Ina and Glenn reveal the real story behind PFAS, the man-made compounds that never break down. They discuss the everyday products that contain PFAS, how these chemicals sneak into our water supplies, and why they pose serious risks to our health. Plus, they explain what’s being done on a regulatory level and how you can start minimizing exposure right now.

What You’ll Learn

  • PFAS 101: Discover what per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are, how they were developed, and where they lurk in everyday life.
  • Health Risks & Bioaccumulation: Learn about the long half-life of PFAS, their link to cancers, thyroid problems, and other severe health issues.
  • Environmental Impact: Find out how PFAS spread globally, contaminating water, soil, wildlife—and yes, even remote Arctic locations.
  • Regulatory & Personal Action: Hear about recent EPA regulations and why it’s crucial not to rely solely on municipal treatment. Empower yourself with steps to protect your family now.

Key Takeaways

  1. No Easy Fix: PFAS bonds require lightning-level energy to break. They accumulate in our bodies and in nature.
  2. Widespread Use: From nonstick cookware to stain-resistant fabrics, PFAS have infiltrated countless household and industrial products.
  3. Health Concerns: Thyroid disruption, elevated cholesterol, certain cancers, and more are linked to these “forever chemicals.”
  4. Take Control: Staying informed is the first step. Simple changes—like choosing PFAS-free products—can reduce your daily exposure.

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Ina:

Welcome to the Toxic Truth About Water, a series dedicated to uncovering the hidden dangers in our water and how to protect ourselves and our families. I'm Dr. Ina, and together with my husband, Dr. Glenn, we'll dive deep into the complexities of water toxicity. It's impact on your health and why the solutions you've been told about may not be as effective as you think.

Glenn:

We'll also share the most reliable, affordable, and sustainable ways to ensure your water is truly safe to drink, cook with, and bathe in. Whether you're concerned about chemical contaminants, biological threats, or simply want to know what's really in your water, this is the series for you.

Ina:

So let's uncover the truth together so we can live healthier, more empowered lives.

Glenn:

Welcome everybody, and boy, this is a heavy one for me, because this one is serious.

Ina:

I think they all are. They're all serious. This one, for some reason Just really hits home.

Glenn:

Have you ever heard of forever chemicals? These are the type of chemicals that are in our environment that don't break down.

Ina:

Yeah. So they're also known as PFAS. So you may be familiar with forever chemicals. You may be familiar with PFAS or the various types of PFAS and maybe you're very unfamiliar Either way, this is really important information. So PFAS are per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. That's a little bit of a tongue twister. And there's a large group of these particular chemicals that have very extraordinary properties. Now there's over 14, 000 varieties of these forever chemicals that exist in the world. What's really interesting is the properties of these. PFOS is that it's carbon molecules that are bonded to fluorine and it is such a strong bond. It literally takes lightning, the power of lightning to destroy it. So what's interesting is we've man made these chemicals and we have no way to break them down. They're called forever chemicals because They last forever, not only in our bodies, but in the environment. They're bioaccumulative, so they actually accumulate in wildlife, in human beings. It's actually

Glenn:

Yeah, it's very scary because they're incredibly mobile. They've found the particles of PFAS in remote areas of the world where people aren't even really living, like in the Arctic. So that's the ability of these chemicals to actually Not only travel through the air, but then permeate into our water systems, into our foods and things that we're being, ultimately into our bodies. That's the key.

Ina:

So let's talk about, where do we find these? This has become such a common group of chemical that's used in so many different things from flame retardants stain free carpets

Glenn:

heat resistant things.

Ina:

Yeah. So anything that's either stain resistant heat resistant or water repellent, that's the majority of where these chemicals are being used. But it's in like when you get, for example, a coffee at maybe your favorite coffee shop, Starbucks or whatever, maybe you prefer an organic brand somewhere. But those coffee cups typically contain PFAS. Your dental floss, it's inundated in cosmetics and other beauty products. As I said, stain free carpeting, rain gear, wrappers,

Glenn:

everything, like food wrappers, food

Ina:

packaging flame retorants, when you go into an airplane, loaded with these forever chemicals. We can go on and on with how in various medical devices. So these forever chemicals are being used everywhere. And they actually were started back in the 1930s, but got very popular in the 1950s. Teflon is probably the one that most of us are most familiar with, right? Nonstick cookware. And there's been a lot of different, Other varieties of that now there's a lot of people who are conscious that look for maybe cookware that doesn't have any toxic chemicals, air fryers, another place where there's a lot of forever chemicals. So liners and food. Again, this is just in so many places very scary.

Glenn:

And it's not just about the chemical itself and how it's used. Of course it is, but it's about what it ends up doing to us. How it affects humans.

Ina:

Our health, yep. So let's talk about some of that. Because that's really, as health professionals, that's the biggest concern. Yes, we are very concerned about the environment as well. And certainly But why

Glenn:

are people concerned about the environment? They're concerned about the environment because it ultimately affects us. And it's our home and it's

Ina:

our home, but we're destroying it. We're destroying the world, our health, like everything. It's all one in the same, right? And so let's just talk about some of the impacts that have been. already proven. Okay. So again, these forever chemicals don't break down. So when a medication or chemical or toxin has what's called a half life. That means how long does it take once our bodies have absorbed this? Once we've been exposed to it, how long does it take to reduce to 50 percent of that original amount? And these forever chemicals scientists are indicating five to eight years before they reduce to half. Now, They're very pervasive, right? And this is something they're finding forever chemicals in every living organism. Every living organism tested, there are forever chemicals found. And every forever chemical has been proven to have very toxic, harmful effects. So they're finding it in umbilical cord blood. Breast milk. The biggest, most vulnerable population are growing fetuses and newborn babies, our children are so impacted by this.

Glenn:

It's impacting our wildlife and we consume some of that wildlife.

Ina:

Correct. It's in the fish. It's in, all the way down the food chain.

Glenn:

We get it. Whether we're directly in contact with it or indirectly.

Ina:

Yep. So we're consuming it and it's certainly extremely abundant in our water supply.

Glenn:

Let's talk about that for a second because, people are familiar with drinking water and trying to handle their drinking water. But this is now, it's gotten into our groundwater. So what's happened is it gets in the air. It ultimately finds its way out of the air, into the ground, and then seeps into our groundwater. That's how bad it's gotten over the decades is that it's permeated our planet and it's in this groundwater and we're consuming it.

Ina:

Correct. So it's going into our rivers and our lakes. As Glenn mentioned, it's actually going up even into the Arctic where they're not even using these products necessarily, but they're not exempt from them permeating everywhere.

Glenn:

Finding a lot of it like in industrial sites, of course, because that's where it's used. It's even in the foam that firefighters put out fires with.

Ina:

Yeah. You

Glenn:

know, so they're, can you imagine what they're exposed to? And remember we talked

Ina:

about my Uncle Marty's, with every plus there's a minus. And so we have all of these conveniences, Oh, we can use cookware where we don't have to scrub. Oh, we get stains on our carpet. No big problem. Or our clothes. We'll just dab it out. It's all, so it's the good with the bad. And so let's just talk about some of the health concerns. So, from Reproductive perspective, fertility issues, hormonal disruptors, like we're having that major impact. There's a lot of different cancers

Glenn:

cancers. There's low birth weight we're seeing in babies.

Ina:

Yep. Yeah. Birth defects. But as far as the cancers go, all different types, prostate cancer big impacts on liver health, liver cancer and kidney function in general cholesterol levels, elevated cholesterol levels as a result of exposure to these forever chemicals. So it, it has a very big impact.

Glenn:

How many people do you know have a thyroid issue?

Ina:

Thyroid issues definitely connected.

Glenn:

So pervasive. In the health community, you have no idea and to know that, or maybe they do have an idea. They do. The people who are creating these know. They do. They've now had the information. Maybe they didn't possibly in the beginning. We believe, I'm not going to get into conspiracies or things like that. I think

Ina:

That's actually known now. The information about the negative serious impact of these forever chemicals were hidden from the public. And they were also hidden from the scientists. And now there's so much exposure and transparency. So now, fortunately, but I would say too late, because again, if you create something that you don't know how to get rid of in a way that's healthy and safe. You got yourself a really big problem We have something that We don't know how to do away with

Glenn:

We do know how to not use them. So there are Alternatives there, chemical companies have come up with alternatives that don't contain any PFAS

Ina:

For example, there are other ways that you can create a stain free carpet, for example, or, repellent, and why does it have to be in dental floss? Once they know,

Glenn:

Once this is known information, it needs to not be there, period.

Ina:

And in the meanwhile, the reason why we feel it's so important to devote an entire episode on this is because it is something that every single one of us need to be aware of, because once you can't unknow, and again, like we always say, knowledge is power, so what you do with the information that we're sharing with you, maybe you'll just be a little more conscious about bringing those products into your home, using them on your body, and especially to protect, the younger, whether you have children or grandchildren that are young or, children that are, starting to, get pregnant and have babies, they really need to be so careful to prevent themselves from being inundated by these chemicals.

Glenn:

And, our episode is on PFAS and our show is the toxic truth about water. And the issue is PFAS. mostly affects water. It gets into the water so easily. That becomes one of the major ways that people are exposed every day. So that's why we can't wait to get this information out there so that people can take action because they don't know it. They don't know they're sitting and bathing in it. They're bathing and showering in this and they don't have to.

Ina:

And drinking it every day and cooking with it every day and so really important information. So there's a couple of movies, I just want to reference because many of you have seen one or both of them. And when it comes to who like who would. Who started all these like forever chemicals, pretty much DuPont and 3M are the big companies that produce a lot of products that contain these forever chemicals. And those two movies are based on truth lawsuits regarding forever chemicals and how this impacted various farms and so forth permeating

Glenn:

the land and the water killing cattle in the one

Ina:

movie Which is regarding west virginia and dupont that was called.

Glenn:

Dark waters dark

Ina:

waters Based on truth, I highly recommend that you watch it and the other which was before that one erin brockovich, which many people are more familiar with but See them both review them Every now and then we'll just watch them. Why? Because we want to stay doom and gloom. No, because we do feel this purpose in just sharing the information, disseminating the information, to people that are, just a lot of us, we just get lost in the sauce. We're in our world. We're trying to do the right thing. We're trying to be as healthy as we can. We're trying to, be happy and shed light and love and do all the things, right? But we forget how important certain things are in order to sustain a healthy, happy life. And we have

Glenn:

to take those things into our own power.

Ina:

Correct. That's the thing. That's right. For sure. I want to,

Glenn:

I want to talk a second. There are some good things coming around the pike. They're trying to, again how we'll get rid of these PFAS along the way. It's hard to say that'll come out as the technology improves. But the EPA finally, after all these years, this year, 2024 came out and they're legally enforcing the regulation of public water to remove PFAS. Now I'll be honest with you, we're skeptical of the ability for these local municipalities Successfully comply not that they don't want to we don't even know if they'll be able to so again It's the government saying we recognize a major problem and now we need to really work on not producing more of this

Ina:

and that's why we want to Share the information to empower Everyone who listens to take it into our own hands. Like we're not just going to sit around and wait for that to happen. Maybe someday, who knows what's the impact in the meanwhile, right? So that's really what we wanted to share with you guys today. And in our next episode, we're going to continue exploring some of the contaminants that we're being exposed to and then we're going to start getting into some better, more enlightening things to help just to really, listen, there's hope this isn't doom and gloom, it's awareness it's again, it's knowledge is power and let's take that information and, do what's best for each and every one of us so that we can live Long, healthy, happy, and productive lives.

Glenn:

So hopefully we didn't scare you to death and that was not our intention. Our intention is to inform, enlighten, and educate you. So again, we want to thank you for joining us on the toxic truth about water. Please make sure to follow and subscribe wherever you're listening to your podcast. This one simple step. really helps ensure that you're never left in the dark when it comes to new information that comes to light.

Ina:

And so remember also like we're all in this together. So keep on questioning, keep learning, stay healthy and stay informed. Much love to you guys. We'll see you next time.

Glenn:

See you next time.

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