[HN Gopher] PFAS "Forever Chemicals" and Nordic Ski Wax ___________________________________________________________________ PFAS "Forever Chemicals" and Nordic Ski Wax Author : mimixco Score : 65 points Date : 2020-01-26 16:47 UTC (6 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.outsideonline.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.outsideonline.com) | TimD1 wrote: | As someone who has waxed with HF wax several dozen times in the | past (collegiate nordic ski racer) with no face mask and mediocre | room ventilation, how worried should I be about long-term side | effects? | arcticgeek wrote: | So is the regular Swix CH7 hydrocarbon wax a C6 or a C8? Should I | still be handling these with gloves? | notatoad wrote: | the "CH" line of waxes (CH4/6/7/8/10) are not fluorinated. The | waxes that start with LF or HF (low-fluoro and high-fluoro, | respectively) are the fluorinated products. | | you probably don't need to worry about handling LF or HF with | gloves, it's not _that_ toxic. but if you 're waxing with them | you should be wearing a respirator. | CDRdude wrote: | I didn't think CH waxes had fluorocarbons at all. Their LF (Low | Fluoro) and HF (High Fluoro) lines certainly do. | TimD1 wrote: | CH doesn't have fluoro, but the correlation between C6/C8 and | LF/HF is unclear to me. Does LF use C6 and HF uses C8, or can | both wax types be made with C6/C8, but in different | concentrations? | unicornporn wrote: | This shit is everywhere and I've lately observed that the big | outdoor brands aren't even close to doing what they can to stop | using them. It's even in childrens clothes, all in the name of | keeping us dry. | | I actually recently tried Greenland wax on a cotton canvas | anorak, and so far it's working out great. Perhaps it's not as | effective as Gore-Tex. I think we should try to remember that | people somehow survived outside before these materials were | introduced. | Alex3917 wrote: | It's in almost all chain lubes for bikes also. There is one brand | I found called Green Oil that doesn't use it, but it takes a week | or so to ship from the UK and they only make a wet lube. Not | thrilled with using a wet lube year round, but still much better | than having Teflon dust in my apartment. | ErikAugust wrote: | This stuff is in drinking water which seems bad, but what are the | dangers of Teflon and Gore-Tex clothing? | jfim wrote: | The company manufacturing Teflon has been disposing of | chemicals used during the manufacture of Teflon in such a way | that those chemicals end up in the drinking water supply of | communities surrounding factories. | toomuchtodo wrote: | Relevant comment/thread from a few days ago: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22117840 | | Huffington Post article: | https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/welcome- | to-b... | | Dark Waters film on the topic: | https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/ | | DuPont was the entity responsible for the pollution and | coverup. | bsk26 wrote: | I thought Dark Waters was good but the nytimes article it | is based on is even better https://www.google.com/url?sa=t& | source=web&rct=j&url=https:/... | | If you're concerned about goretex and dwrs, everything made | by Nikwax uses different technology and is PFA free. | Goretex might be safe for end user (or might not) but the | manufacturing process is probably environmentally risky ... | I wouldn't buy goretex for non-critical uses. So use it for | mountaineering but not in the ski resort or on the way to | work | amarshall wrote: | AMP-free URL: | https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer- | who-b... | swiley wrote: | You probably shouldn't be exposing yourself to a lot of Teflon | (although IMO you probably shouldn't be exposing yourself to a | lot of PS either heh) | kube-system wrote: | PTFE is non-toxic. Health concerns are about production | byproducts and thermal decomposition. | notatoad wrote: | Seems like kind of weird timing for this article - FIS has banned | fluoros, and their grip over the nordic ski racing world is | pretty much absolute. by next season, any waxes with fluoros will | not be viable consumer products. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-01-26 23:00 UTC)