If you put on mascara today, or cooked breakfast in a nonstick pan, chances are you have been exposed to PFASs. It’s the stuff that repels rain from your coat, protects your carpet from stains, and keeps food from sticking to packaging or pans.

Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, more commonly known as PFASs, have concerning characteristics – such as building up in the body and resisting environmental breakdown – and they’re found in many products we use and are exposed to every single day.

The Madrid Statement

To combat the chemicals, Environmental Health Perspectives published a document called the Madrid Statement. This statement highlights the potential harm of both old and new PFAS chemicals. Signed by 200 scientists from 38 countries, the Madrid Statement holds a lot of credibility behind the chemicals found in many common household products and furnishings.

Call for Cooperation

Scientists are calling for countries to cooperate and limit the production and consumption of PFASs or find safer alternatives. By the end of 2015, the use of some of the most hazardous of the PFASs will phase out completely from the United States. However, scientists warn that industries will be introducing new alternatives that have similar harmful characteristics as the originals, but have shorter chains of fluorinated carbon atoms. This would lower the chemicals’ toxicity and help the body excrete them faster.

Although these toxic chemicals found in everyday-use items have not completely phased out of the U.S. quite yet, scientists are in the process of identifying safer alternatives.