PFAS HYPE OR REALITY? BY JOHN PARMENTIER, OWNER AND PRESIDENT, PARAGON LABORATORIES
Such widespread use begs the question, are these chemicals as harmful as the level of visibility suggests or is the reaction overblown?
PFAS are an emerging contaminant with high visibility in Michigan and throughout the world. These Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl man-made chemicals do not break down in the environment and are found in a number of sources, including food, food packaging materials, commercial household products (stain and waterrepellent fabrics, non-stick and cleaning products, paints and polishes), firefighting foams, workplace settings, drinking water, wastewater and groundwater. Such widespread use begs the question, are these chemicals as harmful as the level of visibility suggests or is the reaction overblown? Paragon Laboratories, Inc. is a privatelyheld provider of chemical, physical, and biological testing laboratory services – their most recent offering is sampling
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and analysis of PFAS. The company is committed to bringing the highest quality PFAS consulting, sampling, and testing services to the environmental market. PFAS chemicals have been manufactured and used since the 1940s in the United States. Like many chemicals, PFAS were widely adopted due to their unique chemical properties – resistant to heat, water and oil – before the risks they posed were understood. Only recently have their potential health effects been studied, and due to the sheer number of compounds, estimated in the thousands, that research is limited. However, there is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse health conditions in humans, including increased cholesterol, low infant birth weights, immune system effects, and certain types of cancer and thyroid disease.
