Your favorite clothes, cookware, and even dental floss may contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health. Now, a new Colorado law is aiming to make those products safer.

The new law will affect all kinds of things Coloradans buy and use every day, that are made using something called per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

They are commonly called “forever chemicals,” because of how durable they are, which makes them great ingredients in things like waterproof clothing and nonstick cookware.

The problem is, the more humans are exposed to PFAS, the more they can build up in the body, and can increase the risk of serious health problems, including cancer, heart disease, and infertility.

This week, advocates celebrated the passage of the new law in Broomfield.

  • edric
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    573 months ago

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a floss product that had ingredients listed on it. How can I check?

    • @[email protected]
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      333 months ago

      I think almost all floss uses of these as dry lubricant. The one that don’t are the thick scratchy ones that has trouble getting between teeth.

      • @[email protected]
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        123 months ago

        the thick scratchy stuff is the only kind that doesn’t get too slippery to hold onto.

        • Khrux
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          23 months ago

          Maybe I’m going mad but I don’t think I’ve ever found dental floss slippery? I’ve got a feeling I wind it round my fingers but I’m not sure, even so I don’t think it seems too slippery to hold.

        • @[email protected]
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          23 months ago

          I highly recommend the type that come cast into a small plastic Y shaped handle. Game chamger for flossing. They come in bag of 100 for 4$.

      • @[email protected]
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        53 months ago

        The waxed kind are not always PFAS! I use Reach Listerine Ultraclean and they specify no PFAS. It’s a waxy kind that slides easily!

        When I first learned PFAS was a thing in floss, I figured it had to be in the stuff I use. Maybe it was at some point, but it’s not now.

        • @TGTX
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          73 months ago

          For “major brands” at any grocery store, Reach Pop floss is PFAS free with vegan wax. I like the feel of it and it works well. Definitely not as smooth as something like Glide, but you aren’t getting the forever chemicals either.

        • @[email protected]
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          53 months ago

          I like eco-dent I have some jagged spots on my teeth that most floss snags on. This stuff doesn’t snag and it uses wax instead of forever chemical

        • @[email protected]
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          43 months ago

          I’m sure they’ll eventually develop a new dry lubricant that is almost as good and is highly proprietary and therefore much more profitable than those pedestrians pfas.

          I’m quite sure these were developped before the anti pfas campaign was funded. And we will probably not have any gap in products once all pfas forever chemicals are made illegal.

      • @sfbing
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        13 months ago

        Is that the “woven” one? It’s my favorite.

    • @Fedizen
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      73 months ago

      “glide” is the most common brand to avoid

        • @vxx
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          13 months ago

          Essential Floss unwaxed is approved for pregnancy, it has no fluorides.

  • @[email protected]
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    283 months ago

    How can I avoid these chemicals when I buy my dental floss? It seems really not obvious to me how to be a better consumer.

  • @hperrin
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    93 months ago

    When I started reading this headline, I thought it was gonna be some crazy religious sect that had gotten the state to ban dental floss.

      • zeekaran
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        193 months ago

        Or it’s just not funny and adds nothing to the conversation. Extremely low effort garbage deserves down votes.

        • @[email protected]
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          3 months ago

          I can’t say I disagree with you. But low effort garbage gets ton of upvotes here, as long as it confirms the popular belief. So it’s really hard for me to believe that people downvoting “low effort garbage” is the driving factor here, and suspect that people are actually missing the sarcasm here.

          Although that being said, I also get it for, as someone else mentioned, Poe’s law.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        73 months ago

        We have a very strong mix of people who don’t get sarcasm and staunch libertarians who do get sarcasm.

      • @jwelch55
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        33 months ago

        I don’t like reading shitty opinions, sarcasm or not.

      • @Burn_The_Right
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        33 months ago

        Our planet is infested with conservatives. Sarcasm has become much more difficult to detect.

      • @Fedizen
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        3 months ago

        The sarcasm could be better. Low effort.