'Forever Chemicals' in Drinking Water Linked to High Blood Pressure Risk, Study Middle Aged Women

- Insider, June 14, 2022. Ed.

- PFAS are man-made chemicals widely used to make products resistant to heat, grease, stains, or water. They're often nicknamed "forever chemicals" because they do not naturally break down in the environment, which can lead to PFAS contamination in drinking water, soil, air, and the food we consume. - Exposure to PFAS was linked to a greater risk of high blood pressure in middle-aged women. - The synthetic chemicals are notoriously difficult to break down in the environment. - Humans are exposed to PFAS in drinking water, food, and air — with consequences for health.

- Nearly half of the US adult population is at an increased risk of stroke & heart disease due to high blood pressure.

Chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, forces the heart to work extra hard & can damage the arteries if left untreated, according to the American Heart Assn. While hypertension is slightly more common in men overall, women are at an increased risk of developing high blood pressure as they age. Exposure to synthetic chemicals called PFAS can also raise a woman's risk of high blood pressure in midlife, according to findings published Monday in the journal Hypertension. Researchers at the Univ. of Mich. looked at health data from more than 1,000 women ages 45 to 56, who were followed over nearly 2 decades in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation Multi-Pollutant Study.

The study was designed to evaluate the health effects of various chemical exposures, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). - 6 foods to avoid if you want to eat like the longest living people on the planet. *"Blue Zones" are places in the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. People in those regions tend to have similar diets, with few processed foods or added sugars. Experts suggest there are health benefits to limiting foods like red meat, refined grains, and sweets.

To live a long, healthy life, it may be worth cutting back on foods like processed meat, sweets, and soda, evidence suggests. These foods are limited in so-called Blue Zones, regions where residents tend to live longer and have fewer health problems as they age, researchers discovered. Blue Zones vary geographically and by cuisine, spanning Greece and Italy as well as Costa Rica and Japan, but share common patterns of eating. Whole, plant-based foods like leafy veggies, fruits, beans, and grains are pervasive in Blue Zones...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/forever-chemicals-in-drinking-water-linked-to-high-blood-pressure-risk-study-of-middle-aged-women-finds/ar-AAYq3Kw
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- More: PFAS Chemicals, Environmental Working Group,
https://www.ewg.org/areas-focus/toxic-chemicals/pfas-chemicals

- The ‘forever chemicals’ in 99% of Americans: In 1946, DuPont introduced Teflon to the world, changing millions of people’s lives – and polluting their bodies. Today, the family of compounds including Teflon, commonly called PFAS, is found not only in pots and pans but also in the blood of people around the world, including 99 percent of Americans. PFAS chemicals pollute water, do not break down, and remain in the environment and people for decades. Some scientists call them “forever chemicals."...



- Mapping the PFAS Chemical Crisis (EWG).



- Plastic food containers (EWG).
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* "Dark Waters" movie follows Robert Bilott's (Mark Ruffalo) real-life legal battle against DuPont over the release of a toxic chemical into Parkersburg, West Virginia's water supply, affecting 70,000 townspeople & hundreds of livestock. Hollywood Reporter, 2019.

As a corporate defense attorney on the environmental team at Taft Stettinius & Hollister in Cincinnati, Bilott spent most of his time defending companies like DuPont. But when a farmer from his grandmother's hometown approached Bilott about his dead cattle, Bilott decided to look into it as a favor to his grandmother. "It just felt like the right thing to do," Bilott said in the 2016 New York Times Magazine article that served as a basis for the film. "I felt a connection to those folks."..https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/true-story-dark-waters-how-accurate-are-characters-1254811/

- "Dark Waters" movie, official trailer, 2019. - Dupont. Environmental lawsuits: In 1999, attorney Robert Bilott filed a lawsuit against DuPont, alleging chemical waste (Perfluorooctanoic acid) fouled the property of a cattle rancher in Parkersburg, West Virginia. A subsequent lawsuit in 2004 alleged DuPont's actions led to widespread water contamination in West Virginia and Ohio which contributed to high rates of cancers and other health problems.

Most of the over 3,000 lawsuits were ultimately settled for over $700 million, and DuPont paid $16.5 million in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency. Biliott's cases were featured in several newspapers and a book and were adapted in the 2019 film Dark Waters. Since the 2017 spin-off, the company has adapted its marketing and branding in order to establish a new identity that is "fundamentally different" from DowDuPont. The company published a list of sustainability commitments to be achieved by 2030 in November 2019. DuPont was fined over $3 million for environmental violations in 2018. In 2019, DuPont led the Toxic 100 Water Polluters Index... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuPont