[armada651]

> and at that level, no health impacts have been demonstrated.

Right, but since it bio-accumulates even if your exposure is low over the decades you may accumulate enough of it for it to affect your health. If your body can't get rid of it then it's not the dosage that counts anymore, it's the total exposure over your lifetime that matters.

[readams]

If they were measuring dangerous levels of bioaccumulation then you can be sure we'd hear about it. You'd need to live 1000 years though given the levels we're talking about.

[npunt]

This is not self-evident. Biology is extremely complex and we have a lot left to learn before we can make definitive statements about safety. This idea of 'you can be sure we'd hear about it' places too much of the burden on journalists, random medical researchers, and eventually regulators to suss out what is going on.

As it stands in our system today any awareness we may have about dangers will come far after the danger to us, and then we'll all say a collective 'oops' as we've had to do the last hundred times. Look no further than all the 'I [live near the plant/play on the field/drink the water] and have [cancer/autoimmune/rare disease/etc]' stories that keep coming out year after year.

[morelisp]

There's lots of evidence that long-chain PFAS can bioaccumulate across generations. You don't need to live a millennium personally. (Also the effects are disproportionately bad on infants, so you don't need 1000 years of generations either.)

Also we didn't really stop putting them in the water yet...

[aziaziazi]

> you can be sure we’d hear from it

If it’s widely used and profitable to many, you can be sure you won’t hear from it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias

[cyanydeez]

Or you just need to be a fetus.

Yes, did you know, fetuses start as single cells?

[soulofmischief]

We are in the stone ages of medicinal and biological understanding. We have no idea what levels or forms of exposure are "safe", not only for humans but the ecosystem as a whole.

[csmpltn]

Your argument about "total exposure over a lifetime" can be applied to literally every single thing people ingest or do.

[Cthulhu_]

Can be, but the ones that we know are harmful, like lead, have or are being removed from the cycle. I'm sure you're doing a logical fallacy of sorts here, appeal to tradition or something - just because it happens with something else, doesn't make it right.

[morelisp]

No, we shit, piss, and/or otherwise emit most things back out. Chemicals which genuinely bioaccumulate are naturally rare and we should be careful with them.

[red-iron-pine]

the point of PFAS and the related fear is that 1) they are NOT rare and are everywhere, and 2) we don't piss them out

[dylan604]

Hi! I'm Clippy. It looks like you are trying to make a point. Maybe I can help?

Because you definitely need it if you thought your comment did anything.