This Chemical Does Nothing, But It's Still Bad For You
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- Опубліковано 31 сер 2023
- Check out the MinuteFood video on Teflon here: • I am SO done with Teflon
PFAS - also known as the “forever chemicals” we use in all sorts of household products - are able to cause all sorts of health problems without ever really reacting with anything
LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- PFAS: A class of man-made molecules consisting of a fully (per) or partly (poly) fluorinated carbon chain connected to different functional groups.
- Teflon: A type of PFAS - PTFE - used in making nonstick coating for cookware.
- Fatty Acid: A hydrocarbon chain terminating with a carboxylic acid group.
- Albumin: The main protein of human blood plasma.
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REFERENCES
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Bothun, Geoffrey D. (2023). Personal Communication. Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering, URI. web.uri.edu/engineering/meet/...
Belcher, Scott. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University. bio.sciences.ncsu.edu/people/...
Dombrowski, Paul M. et al. (2018). Technology review and evaluation of different chemical oxidation conditions on treatability of PFAS. Remediation. 28:2 (135-150). onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...
Fedorenko, Michael et al. (2021). Dominant Entropic Binding of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) to Albumin Protein Revealed by 19F NMR. Chemosphere. 263. Retrieved from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Fenton, Suzanne E. et al. (2020). Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Toxicity and Human Health Review: Current State of Knowledge and Strategies for Informing Future Research. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 40:3 (606-630). setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
Goodrich, Jackie. (2023). Personal Communication. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan. sph.umich.edu/faculty-profile...
Jackson, Thomas W. et al. (2021). Rapid Characterization of Human Serum Albumin Binding for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry. Environ Sci Technol. 55:18 (12291-13001). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
O’Hagan, David. (2008). Understanding organofluorine chemistry. An introduction to the C-F bond. Chemical Society Reviews. 37, 308-319. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic...
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2023). Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS. Retrieved from: www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-...
Wani, Ab Latif, Anjum Ara, and Jawed Ahmad Usmani. (2015). Lead toxicity: a review. Interdiscip Toxicol. 8:2 (55-64). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Wisconsin Department of Health Services. (2023). Chemicals: Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) Substances. Retrieved from: www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/chemica... - Наука та технологія
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Great content and visuals. I shared this with a couple of people. It sounds like you don't have carpet in the ~8x8 room the audio was recorded in. Are there any non-endocrine disrupting chemicals that make good sound absorption for recording audio?
POPPY PLAYTIME
2:18 me in pe
@@ciarajulilan *stopitiamsickofthatgame*
Great video guys, finally a chemical I can relate to.❤
Does nothing, confuses stuff, gets transported to places where it doesnt need or want to be in... Hey that me!
Never thought id find teflon relatable but here we are
Social Anxiety molecule.
Lmao this is cute, relatable and sad
An important point this video is missing is that yes, certain PFAS are unhealthy, but these are mostly only used in the production of the items and products described here and are not contained in the final products. So the products are mostly safe for the end user, but there's still issues with environmental contamination and occupational exposure of the workers in factories working with these substances.
A great place to learn this info is in the MinuteFood video referenced here :)
Don't forget that in the paper straws that are replacing plastic they found PFAS
The environmental contamination is the most important factor imo. There is no disposal method for PFAS and they are guaranteed to eventually make it to the environment and distribute around the world in our oceans and rain.
Nature's consumption cycle has ways of concentrating substances which can be part of the problem. Even if the average concentration of PFAS in nature is very small (as with mercury and arsenic) a lot higher concentration can end up in, say, fish which are fatty. This is not good for the fish, for other organisms that consume the fish, or for us if we need a food source but it proves measurably unhealthy to us.
Some say just continue to use our old Teflon until it becomes unusable.
Everyone is an end user of the environment. Just because it's happening "somewhere else" doesn't mean it's healthy.
Hey Environmental Engineer here. I'm glad they're doing more research on these molecules. I remember just about 5 years ago while I was in graduate school, my toxicology professor claimed that these PFAS forever chemicals were considered SAFE because they didn't react to anything. Now, it looks like research has changed that narrative.
That argument actually breaks down really easily. Despite 'doing nothing' PFOA is a strong foaming agent. Having foam where it shouldn't be being bad for you isn't that surprising...
PFAS is a giant group of molecules (most of them are commercially used already). Just like alkaloids, it is common for molecules in the same category to show different properties, especially in toxicology. People should always treat and evaluate every molecule separately rather than overlook its potential risk based on its "PFAS" name.
Humans always do this. There's a new invention and we think it's safe. Then the evidence starts piling up against that, but we ignore it for years or even decades. Until there are wide-spread consequences. And then we panic and claim "nobody knew". Lead in fuel, X-rays, CFCs, phtalates, asbestos, pesticides, ... Looks like we will never learn.
Well it does something called molecular mimicry 😂 therefore it's not safe.
It also makes me wonder about the old "cell phones and radio" controversy. Just because something doesn't appear _immediately_ biologically harmful doesn't mean it can't be. I suspect it's far from the first (or second, or third, or even fourth) thing to worry about, but I wouldn't be surprised if having a 2.4 GHz electric current in your body at all times isn't going to do at least a little bit funny even if it's at too low an intensity to do "direct" damage via heating and the like, and no individual photon of the inducing wave has enough energy to cause a chemical reaction by itself.
The animation in this is looking great! It’s super smooth and looks fantastic.
Also, I’m obsessed with the millipede aesthetic y’all came up with. Adorable
Glad you like it!
The chlorine atoms with the chainsaw got me. Brilliant.
I know right?!!! The animations on both videos were adorable!!
centipede
@@Eoin-B chlorine = chainsaw villain
PSFA = It Follows demon
You framed the problem with lead as it being reactive enough to damage proteins, but couldn't you reframe it so that lead causes problems in exactly the same way as pfas? In particular, your body confuses lead for calcium and tries to insert lead into the contexts where it expects calcium to do some task, and lead is unable to do that task.
iirc Arsenic is toxic for the exact same reason. The body will mistakenly use Arsenic in place of phosphorous, but because Arsenic bonds are much weaker than phosphorous those bonds (and by extension the molecule it's a part of) will break.
@@ifyouwantmoneythengivemeev8094which is ATP/ADP iirc. Ofc there are other phosphorus compounds and cycles in the body. ATP cycle tho is important...and honestly that's a bit of an understatement lol
Something that was drilled into my head decades ago in biology and anatomy class was "structure determines function". More so than even "mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell" that kids like to meme about. Which if we've understood for so long and so well that it was taught as an adage in introductory courses of the subject, I don't understand how these things are surprises to scientists? We've understood for so long about the classic toxins and how they bind to our receptors or interrupt vital metabolic cycles, because of either similar structure or substitutions of elements. And since prions that is further confirmation of the importance of structures of organic compounds. This seems like this will just be another thing to put in the box of proof of the importance of molecular structure. I'm not sure if the sulfur head is unique to what molecule they were using to showcase or if all PFAS have a sulfur head, but that will also cause problems and I imagine is probably actually reactive since we have biological mechanisms for processing that. Which if something does open that up the entire behavior of it in the body system will change then.
@@himan12345678 The specific molecule being used as an example seems to be
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which is a common surfactant. There are other pfas surfactants that are also sulfonic acids, but it appears that there are many types of pfas that have other active groups instead. The pattern seems to be to take a normal organic molecule and make it better at what it already does by replacing all of the carbon-hydrogen bonds with carbon-fluorine bonds.
@@himan12345678 Understatement indeed since the other big group of essential molecules which require phosphorus is DNA and RNA where phosphorus forms part of the "spine" of the molecule. DNA and RNA are also things which you kind of can't live without and to which disruption causes serious problems.
To my knowledge PFOS and PFOA were still used in firefighting foams in the UK up until 2011. It's generally uncommon but can be found in the soil around places such foams were used (fire stations, airports). Which is a fact that slightly terrifies me because it bioaccumulates strongly.
I absolutely ADORE the personification of all the chemicals. Its absolutely amazing, keep up the good work!
Forever Chemicals sounds like a fancy gift. "What did he give you for your anniversary?" "He gave me a necklace of forever chemicals!"
necklace of forever chemicals💀 more like necklace of death
How can the pfas molecules be harmful if they look so cute?
so true
That's how they get you
Some of the most dangerous things don't look dangerous.
I want more!!!
Because they're lazy and conscripted into the body's army where they then cause mission failed.
You make pfas look so cute because of 1 the animation style and 2 because it looks so chill and confused all the time
So basically the body takes the PFAS to a place and expects it to work, and when it doesn't it fucks things up. Simple as.
glad you watched the video
It doesn't make sense to me. If it can't react, how can "our body" get confused and carry it where it should not be. If it is inert, then it is non existent and uncarriable for the "the body". If cells could feel it and carry it, it would be only by means of chemical interactions.
This molecule is just like me fr fr
Really impressed with the visuals and faces in this one
Really good character design this episode
2:57
INSERT MEGA SLAP HERE
I like how the PFAS and Fatty acids were drawn like a caterpillar, it makes sense too,
because an 3D image of the molecules that's space filling looks like a caterpillar. It just looks cute.
Teflon is used a lot in the fast food industry too. And many employees are not trained to discard broken Teflon sheets and will keep cooking with them for days after they’ve been broken.
What I'm more and more worried about is people having disproportionate reactions to this kind of result. I presume anything used to cook could have detrimental effects in the long term, but quantifying the effect and defining a use that is "reasonably safe" would be helpful.
Minute food basically dumped all their teflon pans, and advocated the same for the viewers (over reaction IMO). Neither video offers anything about "reasonably safe", probably because the dangers were recently discovered, and nobody really knows what that level is.
A Dupont exec typed this comment
@@brucecampbell7582 I would argue that quantifying the danger is actually important in order to avoid people becoming numb to warnings. If everything increases the risk of cancer than such a warning caries less weight. Why avoid doing something that causes cancer when when the alternative also causes cancer.
I think the real trick is not that we use any one of these chemicals versus any others. It's more that we have _so many of them_ - and so many enter into our environment through waste. Our problem, as with many if not all facets of environmental issues, is our profligacy, not the individual acts by themselves.
@@pierrecurieThere's a key reason to dump teflon and isn't PFAS; it's just better food. Teflon pans are suitable only for eggs, omelets and sauces that stick and burn easily and nothing else.
Am I the only one who wants a PFAS plushy now? They look so cute!
Oooo. I do! 🎉
Perhaps one made using PFAS?
New MinuteEarth merch
No you aren’t! 💙
Omg yasss
They found PFAs in 90% of paper straws. I guess metal, macaroni or straws out of gras would be better options to stay ecofriendly.
The only thing I'd be looking forward to drinking with a pasta straw is tomato juice :)
@@MinuteEarthas a macaroni straw enjoyer myself i think they are actually quite well fit to be served
I've preferred glass straws for their mouthfeel long before the plastic straws discourse got big. Glass is also inherently nonreactive unlike metals, which often need coatings (eg it's illegal to sell copper cups or straws without the kind of plastic lining you get inside a can of soda).
bamboo straws are also p good, bamboo grows insanely fast and can be super invasive if you don’t cut it down correctly
What are the quantity? And what is the limit?
God damn! the Illustrations for this video are on point!
When I read your comment I went back to the CFC scene thinking "wait, did he draw the ozone in like religious garb or something?" only to find out that you just misspelled "scared" 😅
Also wait... do you mean the scared ozone? The CFC doesn't look scared, it looks worried lol
Can we please have a PFAS marketable plushie? It would make hundreds of dollars out of my wallet alone.
Could it be made of PFAS, too? Pretty please?
In Belgium, there was alot of drama over this. American factory not complying to our regulations and everyone was panicking.
We replaced our Teflon pans with cast iron cookware. After you get the right accessories and preparation know-how, it's better in every way except they are really heavy.
I have some criticism of the cited research, mainly that studies that aim to identify substartes for binding generally do not detect it, or find very low affinities ~100s uM to mM, they are then also at very low concentrations
You would appreciate it? Are you expecting someone to read this and make a video for you? Lol you just watched a video of an explanation and responded by saying "well this is not my sub-field but I don't buy this explanation, somebody please give me one I buy." Like maybe the information that you say you doubt would be a good place to start your own research?
1:30 Chain Saw Chlorine? Is there also Katana Carbon and Gun Fluorine? (Including a dirty, industrial, hellish soundtrack)
Fascinating. This is a prime example of something that doesn't _seem_ like it could make sense, but also _kinda_ starts making sense by the end.
I love this animation of atoms and molecules! Making them act and emote like humans and telling human-like stories about them (chlorine atom with chainsaw on a rampage!) makes the science so much more memorable!
1:10 I like the way you drew PFAS.
The Teflon creatures are so cute! I'll make a model of one to cuddle with🥰
Oh my gosh the confused PFAS molecules are so cute
I was curious about exactly this, thank you for the good explanation!
Very interesting. Thank you for this.
2:56 wow! good animation!
in belgium we have quite a bit of contravercy around pfas or here called pfos
seeying as 3m makes it here and tends to leak a bit of it into the enviroment around the factory
which just so happens one of our biggest cities and also the 2nd biggest port in europe
Was that the Yellow diamond face towards the end there lol?
Teflon is also used for piping and plumbing joints as lubricant/sealant... But if this leads to possible teflon exposure and contamination of our water supply, what alternatives can be used for the same functions?
Lead free Tin solder. Brazing of copper pipes instead of the threaded or pex style.
@@armeniansdoitbetterso basically increase the reliance on a metal we already have a shortage of?
Thanks for explaining the question
Very interesting, well explained and with cute drawings !
That's really interesting. I've known that the prerequisite chemicals are quite bad for us, but for so long the received wisdom for Teflon was that it was so unreactive that if you eat a little accidentally it'll just pass through you. The idea that the body is mistaking them for fatty acids is pretty scary...
I already preferred ceramic or high-carbon steel nonstick coatings over Teflon because of the kind of crust I could get on my bacon and steak and so forth. But I guess this is another reason.
Edit: other comments are saying this is actually about the chemicals used in production rather than the end product, so it aligns with what I knew already. Still - while my backup frying pan is a Teflon one, and the ceramic ones were cookware I just happened to buy or inherit, I'll probably try not to buy Teflon in the future because of the continued production of these prerequisite chemicals. Especially since I get better results from ceramic anyway.
But ceramic/glass cookware doesnt work on induction cooker
@@firdaus99031 Generally anything that's used on stove has metal layer inside. Otherwise there will be hot spots.
@@firdaus99031enameled cast iron would work just fine. It used to be the most robust cookware for a reason. Only fell out of fashion because of planned obsolescence and then advertising caused so many different cookware fads that enameled cast iron has never really came back. When it's finally rediscovered I'm sure plenty will think it's a miracle of modern science.
I really love that the monkey sits on your head while you narrate. It’s so adorable
1:56 "Basically identical" just completely different. Got it. :p
Thanks, I'll play it in my Toxicology class
It makes perfect sense, because we need them in various processes.
PFAS sound like microplastics.
They are everywhere, but there are no longitudinal studies on how they effect the body.
Minute Earth: the cutest bioaccumulative molecules you have ever seen
At the end I really like how the carrier protein just slap the fatty acid out of the way
Honestly when science learns to make scalable diamond, that would be the holy grail of all cookware. C-C diamond configuration bonds are even stronger than C-F
The movie Dark Waters is a really good drama about Teflon!
"this chemical does nothing"
outside structure: oxygen, fluorine, combat knife
Did I just watch a MinuteEarth video end without an Ending Pun? Is this the end of the world?
Sorry - for this video we thought it was important to Pfocus on the Pfacts at hand
Not just this one but plastics too. Plastics are absolutely everywhere and increasingly found to be severe endocrine disruptors.
The art depicts them as super cute. I WANT MORE PFAS IN MY MOUTH!!!
"the body hates him"
pfas:what did i do??
Exactly, you did nothing!!
As someone who's worked in this field, I highly recommend the movie Dark Waters (2019). I'm not touching anything with Teflon again
0:24 dude poor Adams
I think a better title would be : this molecule does nothing, and that’s the problem
im obsessed with that PFAS creature i need merch of that thing
I am loving the little cartoons like at 2:40
Bruh, life is already difficult enough like this. I will not trow my teflon pan out.
1) This is terrifying, but at least I understand now.
2) Off to watch the new Minute Food video next! ❤
Im guessing it still can interact with other molecules electrically if they have polarity?
Cool thanks
The carrier protein's face lol 2:57
Wow, fluid animation!
These faces are so funny. Please keep them comming
Meaning it enters the blood stream and/or digestion system, and the body keeps having more of it, and can't do anything about it?
aww that’s a cute little PFAS
So basically like gaseous nitrogen. Doesn't really fo anything but if there is to much of it in your lungs you'll still suffocate cause its not oxygen
Good thing I'm subscribed to both channels, so they both came up on my feed right after each other. I saved my watch later list, and now I'm nervous 😓 😟 about my cooking materials.
Just watched Kate’s video and spoiler alert, you don’t need to worry much about your pans because the PFAS in them are super tightly bound. Rather, the unbound ones leftover from manufacturing get dumped in the ecosystem and THEN get into you via food and water. So use the pan until it’s toast and replace with a non-PFAS alternative, and support anti-PFAS regulation. Happy cooking!
Dont borrow worry it doesnt pay interest
Thanks for this. I think it's just human nature to assume anything manufactured wouldn't ever match the structure of something as beautifully complex as fatty acids. It's really no wonder it went under the radar for so long.
Same as why some deny climate change. They don't think humans can genuinely affect nature at that level, but they/we can, and do.
I can't believe how cute those PFAS molecules looked at 2:32, the poor things, they are so confused, they didnt mean to get there, they don't know what they're doing there, help they are so lost
2:36 or: can lead to health issues in the host.
I was a bit confused, because it sounded wrong.
I though he meant to say it the other way, like I wrote up here.
But after rewatching this part a few times, I get it now. 😁
"but.. but... I didn't DO anything!"
"Yes, that's exactly the problem!"
The only reason I clicked on the video was the art was original and hand drawn!
a wrench doesn't react, but it can still jam up the gears
this guys has been making science videos for many years
nice video guy's!
can we flush them out by overdosing on fatty acids?
or a better way to phrase it would’ve “can we treat it by I taking fatty acids”
I really like the character design here
the cycle of bad chemical seen as wonder chemical and later on discovered to not be so human friendly repeats itself... but thank lord we have the ability to talk about it nowadays and spread awareness more easily
why do I want to hug this little guy
the molecular equivalent of "why blame lazy people? they didnt do anything"
Oh great, another material I need to be paranoid about!
It's dangerous in a similar way to nobel gasses, but then only because it builds up and replaces important stuff like lead does.
How do I find these Perfluoros ? I need many but now companies are distancing themselves and won't advertise and it makes them hard to get...
Adipose tissue is the most dense space where estrogen is made in the body. These mimicking lipids would lead to excess estrogen production. Estrogen acts on the hypothalamus in ways that influence metabolism, especially the energy storage phase after fight or flight. Insulin is used to help store carbs as fats for later use. Which increases the capacity for adipose tissue to produce estrogen.
I have found that a properly seasoned cast iron skillet is better at non-stick than Teflon.
It's just a bit tricked getting your cast iron into that properly seasoned state and then keeping there.
And I've said this before and had people tell me I'm wrong, even a "professional chef with 30 years experience." So to save you the trouble, take a look at the qualifier, "properly seasoned"
Smooth animation
Pefas Is basically like Luigi
Pefas Breaks the body by doing Absolutely Nothing
PFAS is like a lazy coworker. It does nothing, but thats why its bad. it does NOTHING. it takes the place of something that should be doing something and makes everything worse.
You can detect and quantify these compounds using liquid chromatography -mass spectrometry. Currently developing methods for it.
So basicly when you respond to mom's "what are you doing? " with nothing and mom says "exactly"
So many electron withdrawing groups. All I could think was that sulfoxide moiety must be acidic AF.
Shape. It's ALL about shape. MANY chemicals in our system are highly stable and don't break down, instead, it's their topology that fits into specific receptors that make it dangereous!
Hi
I am so glad I only have Cast-iron pans
Get a stainless steel or carbon steel pan and use a bit of lecithin for nonstick instead
"WHAT DID I DO I DID NOTHING" litrally lol
cyanide works more or less the same too, just in a different area. actually a good number of toxins. for pretty much every function on your body there is a substance that can block it up.