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.

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[+] 57 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
  • [–] 33 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Well shit. Are there any good floss options out there then?

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    "glide" is the most common brand to avoid

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago

    Cocofloss is the best.

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  • [+] -19 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    More government overreach. Who are you to tell me I can't pollute the water

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  • [–] 48 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Y'all mothafuckers clearly can't sense sarcasm lol

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (1 child)

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

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I can't tell if this is Poe's law or not.

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