According to a new study, many soft contact lenses in the US are largely composed of “toxic, endless cancer-causing chemicals”, the Guardian reports. The study tested 18 popular types of contact lenses and “found extremely high levels of organic fluorine, a marker for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFA), in each”.
A class of 14,000 chemicals, PFAS are used in consumer products to make them water and heat resistant. They are also used in a range of household items, including clothing, adhesives, packaging and wires. They have been called “everlasting chemicals” because they do not break down naturally, the report says.
PFAS have also been linked to a range of problems including cancer, fetal complications, liver disease, kidney disease and autoimmune disorders. “You can think of lenses as almost pure PFAS,” Scott Belcher, a researcher at North Carolina State University, told The Guardian.
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