[ad_1]
It became a revolution when fluoride was introduced to skiing in the late 1980s.
But now the fluoride wall, which has been shown to be harmful to humans and the environment, must be removed from skiing according to a decision by the International Ski Federation.
– There is no way back. You can’t back up the tape and fix what’s been released before, says Anna Kärrman, who has fluoride substances as her main research area.
There are fluorides in the dam which makes the skis glide better, especially in the wet and sloppy before because the fluorides on the embankment are repellent to water and dirt.
The dam helps cyclists improve times, but the substances in the fluoride dam get stuck on the tracks and when the snow melts, they hit the ground and into the water. There, they run the risk of ending up in both the food we eat and the water we drink.
– Fluorine substances from downed skis are transported through the soil layers into groundwater and can spread, not just stay on the ski slope. If they end up in a drinking water source, fluoride substances can pass directly through conventional purification methods and we receive them through drinking water at the tap, says Kärrman.
The walls contain substances that are not good for the environment and health.
PFAS is the collective name for around 5,000 industrially produced chemicals that can affect the immune system, something that has become very topical now in the context of covid as they decrease the response to vaccines. PFAS affects the hormonal system and can interfere with reproduction.
In experimental studies in mammals, researchers have observed negative effects on the liver, blood fats, and the development of tumors.
– We receive PFAS in us mainly through food, through our food chain. The largest dose comes from emissions from many different sources that end up in drinking water or food production. They are emissions that have occurred for 50 years that do not go away, says Kärrman.
At worst, toxins can lead to cancer.
– The problem is that toxins do not disappear in nature, they remain. We have known about the problem for more than ten years. The walls contain substances that are not good for the environment and health.
Anna Kärrman, a researcher at the University of Örebro, says that PFAS substances are more dangerous to humans than previously thought.
Photo: University of Örebro
Anna Kärrman has given a lecture on the hazards of PFAS for various industries.
– I believe that companies partially understand the problem and act accordingly. But there is also the skepticism that it is excessive and that investment should instead be made to remove the substances from other products. So you often want to remove products where you use much higher concentrations, but are often more important socially, these substances are found in certain protective clothing, for example.
You want to remove any use that is not necessary for social functions.
This does not include the ski slope.
– It is not important to society and should be removed quickly, really immediately. Fluoride emissions cannot be controlled, we cannot collect it after use to fix the problem. This type of chemical has been classified as being so harmful to the environment and to our future. If we do not act now, in the future we will have billions in annual costs per country just to deal with the health effects. Today, an incredible amount of money is already being spent on purifying drinking water and improving contaminated areas, Kärrman says.
High levels of fluorochemicals have been measured in the Holmenkollen ski area.
Photo: Mathias Bergeld / Bildbyrån
Norwegian Dagbladet is published Last year, a major study showed that there were remarkably high levels of fluorochemicals in the Holmenkollen, Rena and Lillehammer ski areas.
The ski slope is not the worst culprit.
When it comes to drinking water problems, fire foam exercise is the big culprit. If you are unlucky locally, the use of ski valleys may be one of the main reasons for PFAS in your drinking water, but I don’t know of any examples where you have made that connection. But there are several studies where these substances have been measured in snow, in the ground and in groundwater where the connection with the ski slope is found.
The European Food Safety Authority, the National Food Administration at the European level, has recently reduced the recommended daily intake of some of these PFAS substances.
– They have looked at what effects they have when they enter the body and they have calculated how much risk-free we get in us every day. That value has dropped significantly recently, that value is more than a hundred times lower now compared to the first benchmark values that came in 2008. Recently, these substances have been found to be more dangerous than previously thought, he says. Kärrman.
