{"id":1734995,"date":"2022-11-11T06:30:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T11:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1734995"},"modified":"2022-11-11T10:02:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T15:02:50","slug":"healthier-furniture-without-pfas-toxins-brings-healthier-offices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/healthier-furniture-without-pfas-toxins-brings-healthier-offices\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHealthier\u201d Furniture Without PFAS Toxins Brings Healthier Offices"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhealthier-furniture-without-pfas-toxins-brings-healthier-offices%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1734995&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Equipping offices with \u201chealthier\u201d furnishings could reduce human exposure to risky <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-pfas\">PFAS<\/a> chemicals, new research suggests.<\/p>\n<p>To look at indoor PFAS levels, a team led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston, analyzed building dust in classrooms and common campus spaces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur findings provide desperately needed scientific evidence for the success of healthier materials\u2014which don\u2019t have to be more expensive or perform less well\u2014as a real-world solution to reduce indoor exposure to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-forever-chemicals\">forever chemicals<\/a> as a whole,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/erc\/people\/anna-young-postdoc-research-associate-phd-ms-ba\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Anna Young<\/a>, lead author of the study. She\u2019s a research associate in the department of environmental health and associate director of Harvard\u2019s Healthy Buildings program.<\/p>\n<p>PFAS\u2014or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances\u2014are called \u201cforever chemicals\u201d because they persist in the environment. Used for stain and water resistance, at least 12,000 types of PFAS are found in products such as furniture, carpet, textiles, food packaging, nonstick cookware, cosmetics, and firefighting foam.<\/p>\n<p>Linked to thyroid disease, stunted development, weakened immune systems, high cholesterol, testicular cancer, obesity, and diabetes, these chemicals have been detected in the blood of more than 98 percent of Americans.<\/p>\n<p>For this study, the researchers wanted to expand on an earlier investigation that looked at 15 types of PFAS in buildings. It\u2019s difficult because most of the thousands of PFAS chemicals are unknown or can\u2019t be measured with traditional lab techniques.<\/p>\n<p>They instead used a surrogate\u2014organic fluorine\u2014to measure PFAS. It is found in all PFAS.<\/p>\n<p>The research team compared 12 indoor spaces with healthier carpets and furniture to 12 with conventional furnishings.<\/p>\n<p>PFAS concentrations in dust were 66 percent lower in the 12 rooms with healthier materials. Organic fluorine levels were also lower in the healthier spaces, the investigators found.<\/p>\n<p>While the 15 types of PFAS that researchers could measure in the lab were significantly correlated with organic fluorine levels, they only accounted for up to 9 percent of it. That suggests many unidentified PFAS are present in the dust, the study authors noted in a school news release.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers emphasized the importance of eliminating unnecessary chemicals and making healthier furnishings and carpets. They said manufacturers should also provide chemical lists for these \u201chealthier\u201d materials that are verified by an outside source.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis study addresses a key question: If we demand products without any forever chemicals, do we see a reduction in total PFAS beyond the usual 15 measured in a lab?\u201d said senior author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsph.harvard.edu\/joseph-allen\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Joseph Allen<\/a>, associate professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program. \u201cThe answer is unequivocally, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The findings were published online Nov. 4 in <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acs.est.2c05198\" rel=\"nofollow\">Environmental Science &#038; Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an explainer on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/pfas\/pfas-explained\" rel=\"nofollow\">PFAS chemicals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>SOURCE: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, news release, Nov. 7, 2022<\/p>\n<p><em>This story was originally published on the HealthDay\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/consumer.healthday.com\/pfas-2658609908.html\">site.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-cara-murez\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.ctfassets.net\/yixw23k2v6vo\/7DBDdlREnKFGCnBfxO76QB\/d8f7531c29bd6cb4604152bdcbd9a76e\/Writer_Cara_Roberts_Murez_headshot.jpg?fm=webp&#038;fit=thumb&#038;q=65&#038;w=128&#038;h=144\" alt=\"Cara Murez\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cara is a journalist who covers a wide range of topics from health to banking to books. Her work has appeared on HealthDay and in numerous newspapers and magazines. She studied journalism at the University of Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Equipping offices with \u201chealthier\u201d furnishings could reduce human exposure to risky PFAS chemicals, new research suggests. To look at indoor PFAS levels, a team led by Harvard T.H. Chan School<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1891785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1734995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1734995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1734995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1734995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1734995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}