Breaking News: Garmin official announced 37 Smart watches have been just stop working and banned using smart sport watches just few minutes ago due to,Does Your Watch Band Contain “Forever Chemicals”?
An enlightening new study revealed just how prevalent the toxic class of PFAS compounds are in smartwatch wristbands. Here’s what triathletes need to know.
A new study found forever chemicals in watch wristbands. Here’s what that means for triathletes.
Photo: Brad Kaminski/Triathlete
New perk! Get after it with local recommendations just for you. Discover nearby events, routes out your door, and hidden gems when you sign up for the Local Running Drop.
A new study published in the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science and Technology Letters is raising concerns about the pervasive presence of “forever chemicals” – also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) – in something many triathletes have on their bodies 24/7: watch bands.
These synthetic chemicals, notorious for their persistence in the environment and human body, are now being found in common consumer products, with fitness tracker and smartwatch wristbands being the latest addition.
“These PFAS are pretty nasty chemicals as a class,” says Graham Peaslee, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and corresponding author on the study. “All of them that we found are toxic, a couple of them are bioaccumulative, and all of them are persistent.”
This group of chemicals, which comprise more than 14,000 individual compounds, is particularly resistant to heat, water, and oil, so they’ve been used in products like stain-resistant fabrics, food packaging, cosmetics, firefighting foams, and non-stick cookware. But it’s been well-established that PFAS are linked to serious health issues including multiple types of cancer, suppression of the immune system, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, and liver and kidney damage.
Leave a Reply