{"id":12185,"date":"2019-11-24T20:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T01:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/?p=12185"},"modified":"2019-12-01T21:57:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T02:57:08","slug":"part-7-pfas-how-might-exposure-impact-my-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/part-7-pfas-how-might-exposure-impact-my-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 7: PFAS: How Might Exposure Impact My Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float: right;margin: 12px 6px 12px 12px\">\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K0d4p6gFwmY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" 0=\"allowfullscreen\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>On a daily basis, Angela Slitt, a STEEP \u2013 Sources, Transport, Exposure &amp; Effects of PFAS \u2013 researcher and toxicologist, conducts laboratory experiments that help her and her team understand more how PFAS, \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d may be impacting human health at a cellular level.<\/p>\n<p>Extensive and productive, the work is, she indicates, a mere start to the effort needed. \u201cIt\u2019s just the beginning,\u201d says Slitt, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island. A dizzying 4700 PFAS type chemicals require study, and even with labs like Slitt\u2019s working steadfastly on the issue, \u201cwe\u2019re only testing about 20.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because the work to gauge the effects that PFAS may have on our bodies is difficult to conduct, time consuming, and costly. In her lab, Slitt carries out experiments to see what happens when human-like cells \u2013 she uses manufactured cells \u2013 are introduced to PFAS, both older and newer ones.<\/p>\n<p>Slitt shares her science in \u201cForever Chemicals: PFAS \u2013 How Might Exposure Impact My Health?\u201d The piece is the seventh of an eight-part STEEP video shorts series, \u201cSilent Chemicals, Loud Science,\u201d that explores problems posed by PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), explains how STEEP science is shedding light on the issues, and offers practical and positive steps for making our daily lives safer.<\/p>\n<p>Her work could eventually help us to understand whether or how PFAS plays a role in human obesity and liver diseases, or the extent to which the chemicals could possibly impact the effectiveness of certain vaccines, or the birth weights of babies.<\/p>\n<p>A mother herself, Slitt voices her own frustration with PFAS. She says parents want to make their own health choices for their children, but the prevalence of PFAS in our lives can almost seem to \u201cnegate\u201d that right. These are chemicals with half-lives of three or five to eight years, she says \u2013 \u201ca long time\u201d for something to stay in your body, especially in cases of high or consistent exposure.<\/p>\n<p>So she starts the healing at home. Slitt\u2019s family no longer uses non-stick cookwear, and a HEPA filter vacuum is used regularly on the carpet that\u2019s likely treated with stain-repellant. She purchases items carefully. Drinking water should be a prime focus for everyone; she is confident in her water, which is extensively tested and filtered.<\/p>\n<p>Then it\u2019s back to the lab \u2013 there\u2019s much more to be done, for \u201cthis is a human health issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/media\">More Videos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a daily basis, Angela Slitt, a STEEP \u2013 Sources, Transport, Exposure &amp; Effects of PFAS \u2013 researcher and toxicologist, conducts laboratory experiments that help her and her team understand more how PFAS, \u201cforever chemicals,\u201d may be impacting human health at a cellular level. Extensive and productive, the work is, she indicates, a mere start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002,"featured_media":12194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12218,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12185\/revisions\/12218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/steep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}