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Comment by dcx | Hacker News Reader

This seems like a pretty good hypothesis. I believe the main source of exposure to PFAS for most people is food packaging (IIRC nonstick pans don't move the needle unless you heat way above the safe range, and you'll smell the coating melting). What is the main source of exposure to organohalogens? I'm seeing information about mattresses, flame retardants, and seafood.

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PFAS is in so many common consumer products you might well say "it is in everything." That outdoor jacket you're wearing? Coated in PFAS. Your stain-resistant couch? PFAS.

All textiles break and release fibres, and we inevitably end up eating them.

And if you are cooking with a non-stick pan, it is a guarantee that you are ingesting them. It doesn't have to be the PTFE itself, the emulsifiers (such as PFOA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid) are more volatile and have been measured in food cooked with non-stick pans.

> There is general agreement that dietary intake is the largest source of PFAS exposure rather than inhalation or dermal contact [...] For PFOA, EFSA suggested the most important sources of chronic exposure were milk and dairy products for toddlers (up to 86% of exposure), drinking water (up to 60% for infants), and fish and other seafood (up to 56% in elderly).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6380916/

> There really is a very minimal amount of residual PFOA or other perfluorinated chemicals in the nonstick pans — like, you know, thousands of folds lower than what is observed in the water or food. -- Dr. Mimi Huang, NIH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FNNKhVoUu8 (7:47)

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