So, CBC's Science show (Quirks+Quarks) this week covered the so-called "Forever Chemicals" in the PFAS group of contaminants & some of their subgroups
Along the way, they reported, that one of the chemicals in the group [PFBA?], earlier thought to be safe as it wasn't found in the Blood, after exposure to it, has since been found, in dangerous concentrations, in the Lungs, thereby complicating lung / respiratory diseases (Does any such disease come to mind?)
The story - in a longer segment of this week's Quirks & Quarks show - is part of a longer series of programs, in case you want to hear more about similar topics; search CBC.CA)
- Firefighting Foam (banned in SA, from 30 Jan 2018) contained at least one of the PFAS chemicals, as do some articles of fire-retardant clothing. Female Firefighters (eg, in San Fransico, where women comprise a significantly higher % of active Firefighters), were getting, eg, Breast Cancer at 6x the rate of women Firefighters elsewhere, apparently due to exposure to such contaminants.
Apparently, the risk of exposure is serious enough that - even in places where such Foam is still permitted (for the moment) - it was suggested, that the actual Foam NOT be used for Foam-Training, but reserved for actual firefighting use ONLY.
More Bad News:
A woman, who's been exposed to some PFAS chemicals, eg, during pregnancy or before, will pass the contaminant to her baby. The only known workaround is to protect women from exposure to such "Forever Chemicals"
Some researchers found, that - oddly enough - "Less contaminant is More" in some cases, eg, sug-gesting, that the body can flush out the chemical(s) only when they are in high enough concentrations or quantities, but the flushing response is Not seen (ie, the contaminant Stays in the body) when it's in lower concentrations or qty's.
(Let's hope the LNT = Linear No-Threshold folks won't see a similar response to low levels of exposure to Radiation of the Radioactive kind… ;~)
On a positive note, congratulations on your formatting.