Newly discovered sources of fluoride exposure - remember fluoride in all its forms is cumulative...

Date:   9/5/2006 3:03:20 PM ( 18 y ago)

Polar Bears Don't Need Clean Carpets
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It's hard to imagine, when we are cleaning our carpets, that polar bears living far away in the Arctic could be affected.

Now an international team of chemists has discovered that chemicals used to prevent carpet stains may undergo atmospheric reactions in remote regions as distant as the Arctic, where they generate toxic compounds.

Substances called perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCA's) are persistent and potentially carcinogenic compounds. They have been detected in the blood and tissue of humans and animals around the world, including polar bears in the Arctic.

A team of chemists has now shown that PFCA's are generated in the atmosphere from precursor chemicals like those used to prevent carpets from staining. The reactions that produce them happen more efficiently in remote areas like the Arctic, and hence they tend to accumulate more there.

The effects on the Arctic of chemicals originating in the southern hemisphere are significant. Recently some polar bears in Norway and Greenland were discovered to have both male and female sexua| organs. Researchers at the Norwegian Polar Institute believe that the hermaphrodite bears are the result of the accumulation of PCB's and PFCA's

So next time you're tidying up the house, remember there is a bigger price to pay for clean carpets than the cost of the materials you buy.


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http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2003/jul/science/kb_potential...

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http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2003/nov/science/rr_piece.html

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http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pro.html?DOC=professionals\pr...





 

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