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Serum concentrations of PFASs and exposure-related behaviors in African American and non-Hispanic white women

Katherine E. Boronow, Julia Green Brody, Laurel A. Schaider

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Graham F. Peaslee, Laurie Havas, Barbara A. Cohn

2019 · Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology

Psychology
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Original HN comments, with labels from simple text rules. A label describes the whole comment and may miss context or irony. Read the discussion to make up your own mind. About the labels

6 selected excerpts · 6 total mentions

fnordpiglet
Neutral mention · rule
The toxicity of Glide. PFAS is a very broad class of chemicals. The toxic PFAS associated with PTFEs are PFOA and PFOS, both of which were phased out in production in the 2010s. Whenever this topic of Glide being toxic comes up they cite this article : https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/dental-fl... Which is written based off this study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y Which is based off blood samples drawn in 2010-2013, which is at the time PFOA was being phased out of the PTFE production process due to lawsuits around the PFOA toxicity, which DuPont was aware of. The new process using GenX (seriously), which is known to cause problems too but at a lesser extreme than PFOA. However the issue with PTFE was with the residuals of PFOA which you don’t find in commercial PTFE for GenX. And yes, PTFE is widely used in medical implants and devices.
Original comment Rainwater everywhere on the planet is unsafe to drink due to chemicals (2022)
cyounkins
Neutral mention · rule
I was surprised to learn that PFAS are in dental floss, used to help in glide between teeth easily. This study linked using such floss and higher blood concentrations of PFAS: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y It's not strong enough evidence to suggest we should stop flossing, but they do make plain floss without PFAS, ex: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IHMXEQ/
Original comment 3M reaches $10.3B settlement over PFAS contamination of water systems
flanbiscuit
Neutral mention · rule
I don't think they were citing anything. They supposedly performed their own tests. The very first sentence of the first paragraph says: > Mamavation sent 39 different dental floss products off to an EPA-certified laboratory to look for indications of PFAS “forever chemicals.” and there's also this: > Disclosure: This consumer study is released in partnership with Environmental Health News. Scientific reviews were performed by (1) Terrence Collins, Teresa Heinz Professor of Green Chemistry & Director of Institute for Green Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, (2) Linda Birnbaum, Scientist Emeritus and Former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health…
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Sciences and National Toxicology Program, & (3) Pete Myers, Chief Scientist at Environmental Health Sciences, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, and Co-Author of Our Stolen Future. This post was medically reviewed by Sondra Strand, RN, BSN, PHN. Donations were provided by Environmental Health News and Mamavation community members. This post contains affiliate links. Well, they actually do mention an existing study and link to it: > In a study published in 2019 in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, researchers found that women who flossed with tooth floss product Oral-B Glide dental floss had higher levels of PFAS in their blood than those women who didn’t. After marker testing was run on Oral-B Glide, it was confirmed that this product had indications of PFAS “forever chemicals” intentionally added to the product. which had a link to this: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y All that being said, almost all of this site's articles are either "This is bad, buy this instead" or "Best and Worst X", all with affiliate links.
Original comment Industry docs reveal makers of 'forever chemicals' covered up health dangers
wolfv
Neutral mention · rule
From this 2019 study: Serum concentrations of PFASs and exposure-related behaviors in African American and non-Hispanic white women https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y Flossing with Oral-B Glide was associated with 24.9% (95% CI: 0.2–55.7) higher levels of PFHxS Exposure to these chemicals and draws attention to coated cardboard prepared food containers and dental floss as modifiable sources. Fast food packaging show that fluorinated chemicals are detected more frequently in paper wrappers than in paperboard containers. Eating food prepared with nonstick cookware had no significant association with PFAS levels.
Original comment Study finds link between 'forever chemicals' in cookware and liver cancer
rladd
Neutral mention · rule
Not "dental floss" but specifically floss which contained PFASs. Other culprits were Teflon cookware and cardboard food packaging. The dental floss results are hidden in the Supplementary Information document linked in the original Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y#MOESM1 https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs413... These products contained fluorine, a marker for PFASs, as determined by particle-induced γ-ray emission (PIGE) spectroscopy: Colgate Total Dental Floss Mint CVS Health SuperSlip Ease Between Waxed2 Oral-B Glide Pro-Health Mint Oral-B Glide Pro-Health Original Crest Glide Deep Clean Cool Mint Floss3 Signature…
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Care Mint Waxed Comfort Floss2 These products were found not to contain any fluorine: CVS Unwaxed Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil Dental Tape EcoDent Gentle Floss Premium Dental Floss with Essential Oils Mint Vegan Waxed Johnson & Johnson Listerine Cool Mint Mint Floss Johnson & Johnson Reach Clean Paste Icy Mint Woven Floss Johnson & Johnson Reach Mint Waxed Reach Mint Waxed Reach Waxed Unflavored Oral-B Complete Deep Clean Ultra Mint Oral-B Satin Floss Mint Rite-Aid Premium Waxed Mint Floss2 Tom's of Maine Naturally Waxed Antiplaque Flat Floss
Original comment Dental floss may increase toxic chemicals in the body, study suggests
fnordpiglet
Neutral mention · rule
The research that found this didn’t identify PFAs in any dental floss but instead found a correlation in blood levels in the (small number of) participants. They detected fluorine in the floss and assumed that meant PFAs (Perfluoroalkoxy). This is a really bizarre leap because the floss is made of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), which has fluorine, but is unrelated to PFAs even if you squint, despite both being fluropolymers. PTFE is safe unless heated to over 300C, which doesn’t happen in your mouth. At one point in history the manufacturing process used PFOA, which is not an awesome chemical, but has not been used since 2013. However it carries a reputational stigma…
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from that time to this day. It’s otherwise chemically stable and non reactive. It’s also important to note that the study that everyone is basing these conclusions on was in the range of time that PFOA was used to produce PTFE, possibly explaining the PFOA detected in higher amounts. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-018-0109-y
Original comment Cavities were cured in 1985, and no one knows it yet

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