Which model of bamboo flooring is free from detectable PFAS “Endlessly Chemical substances” and is safer for households? Mamavation examined eight totally different bamboo flooring manufacturers at an EPA-certified lab to search out out. You’ve trusted Mamavation to deliver you subjects like most secure natural mattresses with out PFAS, most secure interval underwear sans PFAS, and most secure parchment paper sans PFAS, now be part of us for the most secure bamboo flooring with out PFAS “eternally chemical compounds” client investigation with lab outcomes.
Disclosure: This put up was medically reviewed by Sondra Strand, RN, BSN, PHN.
PFAS “Endlessly Chemical substances” Are Ubiquitous Contained in the Residence & Frequent in Flooring
PFAS, in any other case referred to as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (aka PFCs or perfluorinated chemical compounds, together with PFOA and PFOS) are added to many merchandise we buy to make them “stain-resistant,” “grease-proof,” and “waterproof.”
Listed below are a few of the merchandise you’ll discover them in:
- Meals packaging: they’re utilized in popcorn luggage, pizza containers, quick meals canisters & wrappers, and the flat dish on the underside of muffins on the grocery retailer.
- Constructing Supplies: They’re additionally in carpeting, flooring, synthetic turf, sealants, & roofing
- Materials & Clothes: used on clothes as “stain-proof” and “water-proof” brokers & additionally different materials in your house like upholstered furnishings
- Cookware: You can even discover them on non-stick pans
- Kitchen Home equipment: Some small kitchen home equipment, reminiscent of most air fryers, coat PFAS on surfaces to maintain meals from sticking.
- Private Care: You’ll discover them in your private care gadgets like some tooth flosses, and cosmetics
- Menstrual Merchandise (like Interval Underwear): You’ll additionally discover them in about 65% of interval underwear, in accordance with Mamavation’s personal client examine.
- Mattresses: Even your mattress can comprise PFAS chemical compounds (however these kind of mattresses we linked up don’t.)
- Indoor Mud: PFAS chemical compounds keep on with mud particles so the extra mud you have got in your house, the extra seemingly there’s PFAS within the air you breathe.(Click on right here for our FREE eBook on easy methods to clear your indoor air.)
In response to a report by the Inexperienced Science Coverage Institute on constructing supplies, flooring can comprise PFAS. “PFAS are typically used so as to add stain and soil repellency to resilient flooring. PFAS are extra generally used as leveling and wetting brokers in after-market ground protectors, finishes, waxes, and polishes.”
So we put this to the take a look at. By way of pre-finished hardwood flooring like Cali Bamboo, aluminum oxide is infused with polyurethane and cured below UV lights to make them extra sturdy. Sometimes, this end is advisable for extra sustainable households and those that are chemically delicate as a result of it’s shut or zero-VOC.
Mamavation was questioning if this end, referred to as their “Fossilized® manufacturing course of” may doubtlessly even be cured with PFAS “Endlessly Chemical substances.” Cali Bamboo touts their Fossilized® manufacturing course of as being the perfect within the trade to save lots of your flooring from issues like dents and backs it with a 50-year guarantee. So we reached out to them to determine whether or not PFAS was deliberately used on this course of and so they informed us it was not, however we did discover indications of it in laboratory testing, so we examined seven different merchandise to see if we may discover it there as properly. The outcomes are on the backside of this investigative put up.
Potential Well being Results of PFAS “Endlessly Chemical substances”
PFAS chemical compounds are extremely helpful giving us stain repellency, grease repellency, and water repellency, nonetheless, they’re additionally very problematic to the atmosphere and human well being. The largest downside is their persistence within the atmosphere, that means they keep round eternally, which is why they’ve been dubbed “eternally chemical compounds” by scientists. In response to epidemiologists, no quantity of PFAS is protected as a result of it accumulates throughout the physique.
Right here is the checklist of well being issues (PFAS) perfluorinated chemical compounds are linked with.
- discount in immunity
- metabolic ailments like weight problems & diabetes
- diminished vaccination response
- heart problems
- have an effect on the expansion, studying, and habits of infants and older kids
- elevated danger of allergic reactions & bronchial asthma in younger kids
- decrease a girl’s probability of getting pregnant
- improve the possibilities of miscarriage
- improve levels of cholesterol
- low sperm depend
- smaller penis dimension
- improve the danger of most cancers like testicular & kidney cancers
Our authorities believes PFAS is so problematic, it pressured one dairy farmer to euthanize over 4,000 cows that had been contaminated with this chemical.
For those who really feel such as you’ve been uncovered to PFAS, the Company for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry, a division of Group Well being Investigations has created this truth sheet to make use of when speaking to your physician.
Testing for PFAS is Difficult and Near Unattainable However That is How Different Industries are Dealing with It
Understanding how this works is essential. There are over 9,200 totally different PFAS chemical compounds in commerce, so it’s not attainable to check for each individually. In reality, checks are solely obtainable for a pair dozen or so of those particular chemical compounds.
So as a substitute, we take a look at for fluorine which is the chemical all of them have in widespread. The upper the degrees of fluorine, the extra seemingly it was deliberately added. Smaller ranges can point out contamination or processing points.
This is identical normal the meals packaging trade has created to certify what’s “compostable.” BPI Industries & Compost Manufacturing Alliance certifies meals packaging is compostable on this approach. We’re utilizing this normal as a result of it’s actually the one normal on the market proper now to offer steering.
Mamavation’s Investigation of Bamboo Flooring for Indications of PFAS “Endlessly Chemical substances”
In Might to July of 2021, an EPA-certified laboratory performed checks of Whole Fluorine by Oxygen Flask Combustion and Ion-Selective Electrode on eight of the preferred bamboo flooring manufacturers obtainable on-line: Cali Bamboo, ReNature, Aquaseal, Residence Decorators, Type Picks, Smartcore Naturals, Teragreen Flooring, & EcoFusion Flooring. Samples had been ordered on-line and shipped to the lab. The lab scratched off a pattern of the highest layer of the flooring to check what shoppers can be instantly uncovered to.
The very first model we examined was Cali Bamboo and so they discovered the presence of fluorine, so we saved testing till we discovered a model that got here again as “non-detect” earlier than we posted our findings once more.
The outcomes we acquired from the lab had been as follows:
- Cali Bamboo (acquired from Cali Bamboo instantly) — 13 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- ReNature (acquired from Lumber Liquidators) — 12 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- Aquaseal (acquired from Lumber Liquidators) — 30 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- Residence Decorators (acquired from Residence Depot) — 13 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- Type Picks (acquired from Lowe’s) — 9 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- SmartCore Naturals (acquired from Lowe’s) — 11 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- Teragren Flooring (acquired from Inexperienced Constructing Provide) — 32 elements per million (ppm) fluorine
- EcoFusion Flooring (acquired from Inexperienced Constructing Provide) — non-detect
Conclusions From our Bamboo Flooring Investigation
Mamavation recommends you buy from the model that got here up with non-detectable ranges of fluorine–EcoFusion Flooring. EcoFusion Flooring might be bought from Inexperienced Constructing Provide on-line. It’s additionally obtainable in varied mom-and-pop shops throughout the nation.
We reached out to EcoFusion flooring instantly and so they weren’t in a position to supply a reduction to our viewers, however Inexperienced Constructing Provide was in a position to supply a reduction. Use low cost code “MAMAVATION” to get between 5-10% off your EcoFusion Flooring at Inexperienced Constructing Provide. Particularly, there’s a particular deal happening proper now. You possibly can name them instantly at 1-800-405-0222 or order on-line. Be sure to say our web site if you find yourself calling them for that low cost which is able to fluctuate based mostly on what shade and sort of bamboo flooring you choose.
(Mamavation isn’t receiving any affiliate compensation from this model, however we needed to ensure you had a reduction in any case as a result of flooring is at all times costly.)
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