Sneaky Places At Home Hiding Toxic PFAS Forever Chemicals

By now you’ve heard about PFAS chemicals - the “forever chemicals” most notably associated with non-stick cookware. Its also with plastics pollution and endocrine dysfunction.

But PFAS can be found in many common household items and it is linked to many chronic diseases down the line.

If you have infants or toddlers at home, it's especially important to consider the chemicals that could be in your carpet. For example, rugs are a major source of PFAS exposure for little ones who are likely to put their hands in their mouths after touching the material. 

What are PFAS?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, is a class of thousands of man-made substances that are common in everyday objects. Peer-reviewed studies have linked them to some cancers, decreased fertility, thyroid disease, and developmental delays, among other health issues.  linked to serious health issues like testicular and kidney cancer, liver damage, thyroid disease, and more, are also hiding out in some pretty surprising places in our everyday lives.

Thanks to their super-strong carbon–fluorine (C–F) bonds, PFAS are extremely stable, making them persistent and resistant to degradation.

PFAS last for decades without breaking down, earning them the "forever chemicals" nickname.

Sneaky places at home that hide PFAS

It may be impossible to completely avoid PFAS, but there are a few simple ways to reduce your exposure. By tackling some of the sneaky places they hide:

Wall paint: One study at Duke University last year found PFAS in six of 10 popular paint brands sampled. The study also determined that in some brands there was off-gassing of PFAS, which reduces the overall concentration of the chemical in the paint on the wall, but disperses it into the air, where it can be inhaled.

Food packaging: PFAS were developed in the 1940s to resist heat, grease, stains, and water. That means they've ended up in a lot of food packaging. That includes pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, some wrappers, and grease-resistant paper.

A 2019 study found that people had lower PFAS levels in their blood after eating at home, and higher levels after eating fast food or at restaurants.

Nonstick cookware: The coating used in nonstick cookware usually contains PFAS, and they can easily leach into your food at high heat and once the coating gets scratched.

In fact, overheating nonstick cookware at 570°F or higher leads to the release of harmful chemicals that can cause an illness called "Teflon flu," or polymer fume fever.

In makeup: Cosmetics that are smoothing, long-wear, or waterproof are the ones most likely to contain PFAS chemicals. Without it, your mascara would run. It's a good idea to read ingredient labels (look for any ingredients with ‘fluoro’ in the name).

The Green Science Policy Institute keeps a list of PFAS-free products, including cosmetics brands.

In dental floss: for years, dental floss brands have used PFAS chemicals, which is concerning since it’s a product that goes in our mouths! A 2019 study found that women who flossed with Oral-B Glide had higher levels of a specific PFAS chemical in their blood than women who didn’t use that particular floss. Make sure your floss is PFAS-free!

Soft contact lenses: a random sampling of 18 popular brands of soft lenses sent to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-certified lab all tested positive for PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Menstrual care products: Mamavation and Environmental Health News conducted a study of PFAS in menstrual care products, including tampons, pads, sanitary napkins and period underwear, and found most of them contaminated to one degree or another with the forever chemicals.

Clothing and textiles: One of the ways fabrics become water resistant is by using PFAS chemicals! Jackets, raincoats, backpacks, and other outdoor gear are often treated with these chemicals.

These fabrics shed fibers that can travel through the house as dust, eventually getting ingested or inhaled.

These same chemicals are used in stain-resistant treatments for upholstered furniture, carpeting, and even curtains. There’s no easy way to know if your items have been treated, especially if they’re older. When it comes time to replace them, seek out brands that don’t use PFAS chemicals.

House dust: Those floaters in the air you see are made up of many things, including chemicals breaking down from various household products, including PFAS. One study found that certain PFAS chemicals were detected in 97-100% of samples! One straightforward solution is to keep your house as clean as possible. Use a water-damp cloth to remove dust (referred to as wet dusting), is a simple way to lower PFAS exposure in your home. lingers in the air and allows humans to breathe the chemicals into their lungs or ingest them. By cleaning regularly, along with opening windows to allow for airflow and ventilation, you can keep dust levels low in your home and reduce the amount of PFAS you swallow.

Tap water: Communities located near military bases, such as Newburgh, New York, often find their water supplies contaminated with PFAS. The pollution can also affect local fish populations and the people who eat them.

PFAS levels in community tap water in Massachusetts reveals a trend of increasing contamination, with total fluorinated compounds exhibiting a 5- to 320-fold rise over 25 years.

People living near military bases are more vulnerable to water contamination. For example, it emerged through internal U.S. documents obtained by journalist Jon Mitchell for The Japan Times that accidental leaks of PFOS-containing fire extinguishing foam at Kadena Air Base may be linked to the contamination of drinking water on the island.

Cellphones / Fingerprint-resistant smartphone screens: PFAS are used in pretty much anything to make things more resistant to grease and water. The circuit boards, semiconductors, and insulated wiring that use PFAS, as well as the touch screen, which has PFAS coating to resist fingerprints.

What Are EMFs? 7 Things You Need to Know as a Mother

You probably hear about EMFs and its associated risks in the devices, content, and habits that we have, but what exactly does it mean? And what does it mean if you have children or are planning for a family?

In this article, you’ll learn what is EMFs and how they’re negatively affecting the health of children, in particular concerns around fertility, conception, birth and all through the crucial years of child development.

What are EMFs?

EMFs are invisible and completely beyond most people’s awareness. However, some people can actually feel them. Especially those that are manmade (non-native electromagnetic radiation).

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The simplest way to understand how important EMFs are to our health – is by learning about the electromagnetic spectrum.

contains the entire range of all electromagnetic radiation. It also shows the field’s approximate frequency – which relates to its wavelength.

At the absolute lowest frequencies in the hertz range, we see the largest wavelengths. These are the size of several thousand miles! The lowest of frequency fields includes the Earth’s Schumann Resonance, which is also very healing for us when we are grounded in Nature to its energy.

The higher in frequency, the field gains more energy, and also reduces in wavelength. (That’s why wireless radiation is often called pulse radiation to describe its very high energy field.) In fact, at the frequency of Wi-Fi, your body is being exposed to 2.4 or 5 billion pulsations per second. Compare that to the natural Schumann Resonance, which has just 8 gentle cycles per second.

EMFs may be triggering your child’s hungries

In healthy participants and compared with no exposure, 50-minute cell phone exposure was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the antenna. Link to the study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/645813

Light can cause breast cancer

75 studies and articles showing effects of EMFs and the initiation and promotion of breast cancer.

https://emfrefugee.blogspot.com/2019/06/emfs-and-breast-cancer.html?m=1

2008 – Austria – Cell Phone Towers and CancerA study by Austrian Dr. Gerd Oberfeld (EMFacts 2008) showed a 23-fold increase in breast cancer and a 121-fold increase in brain tumors for those who lived with 200 meters of a cell phone base station for five years or longer! http://www.verwaltung.steiermark.at/cms/ziel/21212/DE/

EMFs may be harming your chances of conception

There’s enough compelling evidence to show how higher levels of exposure can reduce sperm quality in men.

It can also increase miscarriage risk in women. Two miscarriage studies, conducted by Kaiser Permanente and funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, are particularly interesting because they're some of the only ones to date that actually measured EMF exposure in subjects using a magnetic field monitoring device.

"We took [913 pregnant women] and asked them to wear the monitor for the duration of their pregnancy. Studies right now aren't using the meters because most of them are focusing on cancer. [But] Cancer can take 20 years to develop—you can't measure your exposure from 20 years ago, so in those cases, you just ask how much the person uses their cell phone." — eproductive epidemiologist De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, the principle investigator on both studies (one published in 2002, one published in 2017).

Singapore breast cancer statistics

What does your bedtime routine have to do with your breast cancer risk?

-

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women anywhere you're from. In Singapore,

Researchers looked at how short wavelength visible light in the blue region emitted from digital screens TANKS this crucial process.

also examined different levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) such as cellular phones (29-40), mobile base stations(41, 42), Wi-Fi routers

We have shown that both the blue light and RF-EMFs generated by mobile phones are linked to the disruption of the circadian rhythm in people who use their phones at night.

women who carry mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2, or women with family history of breast cancer should avoid using their smartphones, tablets and laptops at night.

Why bother with a sleep sanctuary if any will do?

Protecting your sleep/wake cycle is paramount to prevent cancer. Melatonin, the hormone dominant at night, is your ANTI-CANCER hormone. "has been shown to produce strong anti-cancer actions and also promotes sleep."

All mice were kept in the light for 12 hours each day. One group of three mice was in the dark the other 12 hours, which helped them produce high levels of endogenous melatonin. Another group spent 12 hours in light followed by 12 hours in dim light at night, which suppresses their nocturnal melatonin production. The dim light was 0.2 lux, which is less than a night-light or a display light from a cell phone

And the number disruptive to your

Women are more sensitive to melatonin disruptions.

BOTH the blue light and RF-EMFs generated by mobile phones are linked to the disruption of the circadian rhythm in people who use their phones at night.

Your breastmilk can be changed by your light enviroment

Human breast milk is more than a meal – it’s also a clock, providing time-of-day information to infants.

https://theconversation.com/human-breast-milk-may-help-babies-tell-time-via-circadian-signals-from-mom-118492?fbclid=IwAR2kplJ4RVUugLqqc7poMbCmZGYCnZvcxwDFXzmE_URmkbTS4ExjArOIZjo

Children are especially susceptible

Children are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of EMF (electromagnetic frequencies or fields) for a number of reasons, and most are submerged in an electrosmog soup all day, every day. What are the risks?

In 2016, the National Toxicology Program released the results from the largest cell phone study ever performed on the link between nonionizing radiation and cancer. Rats exposed to the frequency of radiation emitted by cell phones developed two kinds of tumors: gliomas in the brain and schwannomas in the heart. These results align with several observational studies finding links to the same types of tumors in humans - plus acoustic neuromas and meningiomas.

• Sleep deprivation

• Low energy, “brain fog”, mommy brain

• Mood issues, such as anxiety, depression, aggression and impulsivity

• Increased stress

• Affect sleep/wake cycles in babies through breastfeeding

• Developmental issues (especially in young kids)

• Dry-eye disease

• Decreased hand-eye coordination

• Reduced ability to form social connections and relationships

• Reduced executive function

In 2010, Powe et al. reported that among 25 Boston-area women,  mothers of sons produced ~25% higher energy density in milk than mothers of daughters. More recently, Fujita and colleagues (2012) revealed sex-biases in the milk fat concentration among 72 women in rural Kenya. On average, mothers of sons produced significantly higher fat concentrations in milk.

Children are also sensitive to their environment

Some people are "exquisitely sensitive" to places where EMFs are present. Some literally cannot be in certain places because of the Wi-Fi there—they end up with fatigue and headaches and ringing in the ears and a sense of brain fog to the extent that it may affect thinking and speech patterns.

I had a glimpse of this as a child that worsened as a teenager until it hit a peak when I was working fulltime. It took me until I was into my 30s to understand where all these symptoms were coming from.

The thing is, at that time I had no idea what was going and kept going, kept struggling despite the bouts of malaise that would hit me. It takes time for children to learn how to express their bodily aches in calm ways for our adult ways; before then, it often manifests as temper tantrums, general fatigue and “laziness”, and spectrum-type disorders.

Brain development in children

A child’s hippocampus and hypothalamus absorb 1.6 to 3.1 more MWR than an adult’s, and his cerebellum absorbs 2.5 times more[6][7]

Resources and references:

1. [6] Christ, Andreas, Marie-Christine Gosselin, Maria Christopoulou, Sven Kühn, and Niels Kuster. "Age-dependent Tissue-specific Exposure of Cell Phone Users." Physics in Medicine and Biology55, no. 7 (2010): 1767-783. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/55/7/001

2. [7] Gandhi, Om P., L. Lloyd Morgan, Alvaro Augusto De Salles, Yueh-Ying Han, Ronald B. Herberman, and Devra Lee Davis. "Exposure Limits: The Underestimation of Absorbed Cell Phone Radiation, Especially in Children." Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine31, no. 1 (2011): 34-51. doi:10.3109/15368378.2011.622827.

3. the Agency has issued opinions on the health effects of 5G deployment, high-voltage lines, body scanners and light-emitting diodes.

4. READ MORE about the link between night time light exposure and breast cancer here ((Melaniechua.com)).

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5811748/?fbclid=IwAR3nAtsjrYTSCzDy5S7ayvcRmEgs4QZNyTBkhe6qoLEgTTkAyaWC7wOue0U#!po=1.51515

6. https://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2019-03-breast-cancer-likelier-bone-nighttime.html?fbclid=IwAR114v839lOxffTGnuuWVPfsVcMWaRf9fntJsxIi0NW7f-Shm_en3-OLE9M

Study: Toxic chemical exposure during pregnancy linked to serious health issues by elementary school

A study adds to the body of research showing that the mother’s exposure to toxins affects her child’s health well into the growing years. This study is one of the most comprehensive endeavors delving into early-life environmental origins of metabolic risk, further bolstering prior toxicological and epidemiological evidence in this area

Link to study: Prenatal Exposure to Chemical Mixtures and Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Children, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.12040

the study

The researchers looked at 1134 mother-child pairs from 6 European countries (France, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, and the UK), and their prenatal exposures to common endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) mixtures. The mean age of the mothers at the birth of their child was 30.7 years, and they were recuited into the study April 1, 2003, and January 30, 2009.

These common toxic chemicals included “metals, organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers [that’s PBDEs, or flame retardants], and perfluoroalkyl substances”.

They then measured the children born to the mothers at 6 to 11 years of age. They focused on markers of metabolic syndrome, which combines measurements of blood sugars, lipids such as cholesterol, the existence of fat tissue and the impact on the heart.

We almost always consider health risks from single chemicals, one at a time, as if we are exposed to just one chemical at a time. Here the research team shows that children’s risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life can be driven by the complex mixtures of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the body at any moment and it highlights the particular risk of chemical exposures during pregnancy. —Jane Houlihan, the national director of science and health for Healthy Babies Bright Futures

what the researchers found

They found that the exposure to toxins were associated with increased metabolic syndrome risk score and altered proinflammatory proteins, amino acids, and glycerophospholipid levels in childhood.

The childrens’ comprehensive tests had elevated levels of metabolic syndrome at ages 6 to 11. Metabolic syndrome can include obesity, elevated blood pressure, and abnormally high cholesterol and insulin resistance, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Within the group of children exposed to the highest levels of chemicals, 62% were overweight or obese, compared with 16% of children within the low-risk group.

Moreover, the levels of blood insulin and triglycerides, as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, were significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group.

Pregnancy and childhood are especially important times to limit exposure to chemicals as the brain and body are in key stages of development. Sign up for a free guide to common pollutants AT HOME that you can reduce now.

11 Baby and Infant Products And Their Common Toxins

Some products come with the territory when you’re expecting a new baby, others are entirely optional but have hidden toxins that you need to be aware of. The list of toxins to avoid is ever-growing and the marketplace a mind field of potential hidden toxicities. Marketing does not always help as it may obscure more than offer helpful information.

Ultimately, this leaves the responsibility to you, mums and dads, to know the ingredients and materials behind your products — what's good for you and baby and what is not.

To cut to the chase, here is a list of the MOST COMMON baby products that you may not know are frequently full of toxins. For all of these products, you can choose better alternatives that are actually safe and support your baby’s biological development.

baby monitors

It would be difficult to actually study the effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure from baby monitors on babies (not to mention the ethics of such a study), but we can infer a lot from the thousands of studies that look at how wireless radiation from cell phones affects children. Moreover, baby monitors tend to be used close to the baby (at least within the same room) and during sleep, which is a critical period of rest and growth for the baby.

If you need a baby monitor, check out this low-EMF baby monitors guide.

Infant car seats

Is your infant car seat treated with flame retardants? Many common baby products such as baby bedding, pillows, mats, and even car seat may be treated with toxic flame retardants, depending on the country of production (that governs regulations). The only way around this is to choose one NOT treated with chemicals and to seek 100% natural materials in your baby bedding.

Plastic baby bottles

Made out of plastic baby bottles, sippy cups, plastic feeding containers contain plasticisers that disrupt hormones. These are the big four (in)famous Phthalates, Bisphenol A (BPA), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polystyrene

Even after BPA was banned (only for some products, by the way — check out this article for more details) in 2012, its “BPA-free” alternatives (BPS, BPE, BPF, etc.) are just as toxic and harmful. Even low doses of endocrine disruptors can still have an effect.

In order to totally avoid BPA and its alternatives, it’s best to choose products that are not made of plastic, such as stainless steel, hospital-grade silicone, and glass.

Luckily, nowadays many sturdy glass alternatives are available. I used the glass Natural Start baby bottles from Tommee Tippee, and it was such a breeze to clean and scrub glass vs soft plastic too.

Fragrances

Things can get a bit messy especially during the postpartum to early years, and we might rely on our powerful sense of smell for a soothing reminder of calmer things. However, you want to strictly avoid artificial fragrances! Fragrances can contain synthetic chemicals that are derived from harmful sources like coal and petroleum, which can cause skin, respiratory, and even neurological issues. They also contain pthalates are harmful as they are linked to developmental disorders, respiratory issues, and fertility issues

Hand sanitisers

Triclosan is an antimicrobial ingredient often found in hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap) and it has been linked to such a significant impact on the thyroid and reproductive hormones that it’s banned in several countries.

Sunscreen lotion

These common skincare products often contain parabens and phthalates that are harmful, endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Talcum powder

While talcum powder itself, as a smoothing agent, is generally safe; it is made from talc, a mineral made up mainly of the elements magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. However, it has the potential to be contaminated with asbestos, which is a known carcinogen and instigator of lung disease.

Baby Shampoo

There are more formulations for baby that any parent can keep track of. Look beyond ““gentle” and “pure” to find out the ingredients. One common ingredient, Formaldehyde some baby shampoos, and body washes. Many preservatives actually release formaldehyde (they’re called formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (FRPs)). are used in many personal care products. (Yes, the same found in particleboards that causes lung issues.)

Short-term exposure to formaldehyde may cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat and skin irritation. Formaldehyde and the formaldehyde-releasing preservative, quaternium-15, are significant sensitizers and causal agents of contact dermatitis in children. Even trace amounts are a concern as it is enough to sensitive the body.

Wood-composite furniture

While new “ultra low-emitting” formaldehyde (ULEF) and no-added formaldehyde (NAF) resins were developed, it is a concern especially if youhave just finished a renovation and/or bought new furniture. Formaldehyde is normally present at low levels (less than 0.03 parts per million) in both indoor and outdoor air. It can be many times that usual amount within homes due to the choice of materials and pool ventilation.

new furniture

Likewise, a lot of the materials we use to coat furniture contain solvents, and also other materials to seal them in, that can be harmful. One example can be formaldehyde, this is a chemical that’s used in furniture polishes and stains. Off-gassing can last long after your furniture loses its new shine.

It’s not a good idea for the postpartum phase if you’re going to be ensconced with baby in a small space, breathing in these fumes.

References & resources

1. Weatherly LM, Gosse JA. Triclosan exposure, transformation, and human health effects. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 2017;20(8):447‐469. doi:10.1080/10937404.2017.1399306

Studies on quats: Can Hand Sanitisers Harm Your Fertility?

“Quats,” short for quaternary ammonium compounds. They’ve been part of cleaning products for decades.

Because they were invented before most toxin regulations came into place, quats are mostly “grandfathered” into the chemicals used today.

Researchers are finding more and more about the harms of quats, including on fertility. In this article, we go over what research has found out about quats.

According to a pivotal study by researchers from Virginia Tech University and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, quats is a common ingredient in cleaning supplies that undermined fertility in both male and female mice.

the study

For the study, the researchers exposed female and male mice to quats. These were a mixture of two common quats  – alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC) and didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC).

After five weeks of daily exposure to the quat mix, female mice spent significantly less time in heat, and after eight weeks of exposure, ovulated less frequently and produced fewer viable embryos than female mice in the control group, the scientists reported.

They found that quats appeared to impair the reproductive systems of male mice even more dramatically.

quats were used to clean the mice cages and floors

The scientists fed small amounts of the quat mix to one group of male mice for eight days.

A second group of males wasn’t dosed deliberately but for seven weeks was housed in a facility where lab staffers conducted routine cleaning with the disinfectants.

In both groups, the male mice showed lower sperm concentrations and fewer swimming sperm than a control group of mice that was not exposed to the two quat chemicals under investigation.

You can read the study published in the journal Reproductive Toxicology here.

quats harm on fertility

This adds to earlier studies linking quats to fertility risks. An earlier study by research teams from Virginia Tech and Washington State University, found that female mice exposed to the quat combination took longer to achieve pregnancy, developed fewer pregnancies. and gave birth to smaller litters.

That December 2014 study has an interesting origin story. One of its lead researchers, Hrubec, noticed that the mice in her lab were reproducing less frequently. She only discovered the link after suspecting her lab assistants’ habit of wetting their hands with quat-laced disinfectant before handling the mice!

That brought Hrubec to an article in the journal Nature about Patricia Hunt, a prominent geneticist at Washington State, who had made similar observations in her own lab in 2005.

(Hunt is famed for another lab accident, back in 1998, that led her to discover that the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A was leaching from her lab animals’ plastic water bottles into their bodies. She told EWG in 2008 that BPA exposure scrambled the chromosomes in the animals’ eggs, rendering them infertile.)

post-pandemic increase in exposure to quats

During the pandemic, many people loaded up on disinfectants, hand sanitizers, and sanitizing wipes to keep possible viruses at bay.

It even changed many people’s habits to preferring sanitisers over simple hand washing, believing that the chemical wash helps them avoid getting sick.

However, now people are exposed to quats because of widespread use of these chemicals in homes, offices, stores, schools, medical facilities and elsewhere. EWG’s research on school cleaning supplies revealed quat-containing cleaners used in multiple school districts in California.

Quats are well-documented allergens and can cause otherwise healthy individuals to develop asthma.

It is highly ironic if, in a bid to rid ourselves of exposure to possible viruses, we expose ourselves to definite toxins and develop lung diseases and breathing difficulties instead.

References

1. Exposure to common quaternary ammonium disinfectants decreases fertility in mice, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890623814001920

2. EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning lists more than 250 cleaning products that contain quats.

Must-Watch Documentaries About Toxic Chemicals

Updated 23 July 2024

Embarking on a toxin-free life can be an overwhelming and transformative experience. To help navigate this road, I have found in-depth documentaries to be particularly helpful to understand how these pollutants affect us, including: Documentary films, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity research and lectures, and related eBooks. 

This page is a resource that will help you become an informed consumer.

Living With Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Toxic chemicals have infiltrated all aspects of modern living — household items, consumer products, electronics, food, food packaging, personal care products, soaps, pharmaceuticals, toys and play mats, and even our water supply.

Imagine having a home that makes you sick. You may make the connections much later to discover how common household items and materials like paint, carpeting, new building materials and insecticides are now your worst enemies. Your bones ache, you’re feverish, you suffer from extreme headaches, disabling fatigue, mental confusion, asthma and nausea.

You realise you are dealing with something called “MCS”, also known as environmental illness, chemical intolerance, and toxicant induced loss of tolerance or TILT.

Are you ill? Or is it your environment that is poisoned?

The longer you stay in your house, the sicker you get but you can’t imagine how or where you’re going to find a safe home. You begin to wonder if you will ever get back to feeling well, and how others respond to your “invisible illness”.

If you have imagined a stronger, more vibrant and happier you, a calm and peaceful home, you are tackling the tasks of living free of toxins. I hope this list is helpful to you and your loved ones to understand the world of MCS.

The Poison in Us All - 2023 (full documentary)

“The Poison in Us All,” a documentary by Bloomberg Investigates, explores the origins of per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) or “forever chemicals,” and how they are putting our lives and the lives of future generations at risk.

Rates of cancer diagnosis in children are increasing in Minnesota, USA, which is where chemical company 3M’s global headquarters are located. As far back as the 1960s, the company has been dumping PFAS chemicals in the surrounding areas.

Minnesota sued 3M for the damage that it has caused to the state’s natural resources, and in 2018, the company was ordered to pay $850 million for contaminating the state’s water supply for decades.

The US EPA now recognizes more than 14,000 different chemical structures as PFAS.

Homesick - 2013 (full documentary)

Director Susan Abod hits the road to learn whether other people with MCS are finding safe housing. On her journey to the Southwestern United States, Susan meets people from all walks of life. Their living quarters range from a house on stilts to tents and a teepee.

Funny, You Don't Look Sick: An Autobiography of an Illness

Director Susan Abod also made another film about MCS.

I made a film, the first documentary I made. called "Funny, You Don't Look Sick: An Autobiography of an Illness" was basically about the, you know, having this illness. And--and I took people on a tour through my house and said, 'Well, it looks like a normal place. But you know, there's no carpeting, there's radiant heat, there's no gas stove, there's no paint, nobody smokes in the building. So when I was done with that film, and you know, this was before email, it showed in 1995. And we-- it wound up going to a lot of support groups. And it was by word of mouth or newsletter or something like that. Then it dawned on me that I had this access to--in Boston, there was the American with Disabilities Act, had an arts mini grant available, and I was starting to have trouble with my housing.

I came up with the idea, how to meet others. I mean, simply what you said. And the--a film would be a great way to do it since I didn't have the resources, if I could get money in order to make my van accessible, money to hire a camera woman. So that's what I did. And we only had paper newsletters. And that's how I did it, from phone contact to phone contact to build up a tour of people to talk to. And that's how I did it. — Susan Abod, from podcast interview https://www.chemicalsensitivitypodcast.org/1970633/11732992

stink! - 2015 (Full Documentary)

STINK! a 2015 American documentary film directed by Jon J. Whelan. The film explores why there are toxins and carcinogens legally hidden in American consumer products.Award-winning film on dangerous chemical ingredients hidden in everyday products. The New York Times says, "Jon Stewart...would probably approve of ‘Stink!’” Entertaining, enlightening, witty, and at times absurd, you’ll never smell the same after Stink!”.

Addicted to Plastic - 2018 (Full Documentary)

ADDICTED TO PLASTIC is a point-of-view style documentary that encompasses three years of filming in 12 countries on 5 continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. The film details plastic's path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability.

Your space is your sanctuary

These documentaries expose the harms of toxic chemicals, offering insights from science, healthcare providers, and people suffering with its related health problems.

There are building biologists who have walked this path of recovery — attaining a higher level of calm to their environment and to themselves, and you can take advantage of this knowledge and guidance in creating a healthier and less stressful living and working environment.