074: How to stress less about ‘forever chemicals’

Issues around forever chemicals are not for you to solve alone *and* there are changes you can make today; a look behind Cassie’s latest for WebMD

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Forever chemicals—PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances)—and microplastics are modern-day pollutants and man-made chemicals designed for durability that are practically everywhere.

They’re in plastic.

They’re in food.

They’re in clothes.

They’re in furniture.

And, as research uncovers more about their adverse health effects (they’ve been linked to cancer, other diseases, and immune suppression), they’re all over the headlines, too.

They can feel like a big thing to stress about and an even bigger issue to solve. They can feel stressful—especially on top of all of the stressors that mothers have right now.

My latest story, a piece for WebMD about navigating stress around forever chemicals, is about existing in, well, a somewhat toxic world—and how to feel less panicked about that.

While reporting it, I was reminded, of course, of motherhood, and in particular a piece I wrote for Parents at the peak of the pandemic about the stress of parenting during that time of great uncertainty. For that story, I interviewed a few sociologists in the motherhood space. One was Caitlyn Collins, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis who studies motherhood. When I asked her how parents come to terms with so many unknowns and so many stressors, she told me this:

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