They're everywhere, are harmful to our health and do not biodegrade. Has DW reporter Tim Schauenberg also unknowingly ingested 'forever chemicals'? Wh

Teflon and 'forever chemicals:' The hidden toxins in your body 

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2021-06-14 08:30:08

They're everywhere, are harmful to our health and do not biodegrade. Has DW reporter Tim Schauenberg also unknowingly ingested 'forever chemicals'?

What do raincoats, pizza boxes, frozen vegetable packaging and nonstick frying pans have in common? They all contain perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS). Known as "forever chemicals" by experts, they could be damaging human health.

Roland Weber, an environmental consultant with the United Nations, describes them as "one of the most threatening chemicals ever invented." 

Some 4,500 human-made substances fall under the PFAS designation, and residues from this family of chemicals are now found across the globe — in soil, drinking water, food, animals and even inside the human body.

Some 98% of US Americans have PFAS in their blood. Studies from India, Indonesia and the Philippines found the toxic substances in nearly all breastmilk samples tested. Every child in Germany has forever chemicals inside them, and in a fifth of those cases, concentrations exceed critical levels.

This made me wonder about the levels of forever toxins in my own body. Finding out is not easy as there are very few specialist labs in Germany able to perform the necessary tests. But I managed to locate one, IPASUM, in the southern city of Erlangen. 

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