Editor’s note: This is the September installment of a monthly column written by the city of DeKalb’s Citizens Environmental Commission that focuses on increased awareness of issues such as promoting projects and ordinance changes involved in recycling, reducing energy consumption and planting native habitat.

PFAS is the acronym for a group of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

These substances have been dubbed “forever chemicals,” as they represent a collection of more than 5,000 synthetic organic compounds that persist in the environment, including in our bodies, and there is evidence that they may cause serious health problems.

PFAS have been used since their formulation in the 1950s. They are included in construction materials, clothing, packaging, cookware and cosmetics.

A typical DeKalb home built or renovated since that time likely includes stain-resistant carpeting, window frame varnish, furniture and wall paint. A survey of the common kitchen would find PFAS in early nonstick cookware as well as many items brought home from the store: pizza boxes, candy wrappers, microwave popcorn bags and sticky notes.

Completely avoiding PFAS would require a time machine going back at least 70 years. Can we wash it off at the end of a day of contact? No. PFAS is found in our shampoo and our cleaning products, as well as other toiletries such as toilet paper and dental floss. Unfortunately, cosmetics also are formulated with PFAS.

So ubiquitous are these chemicals that they are detectable in rain because PFAS in water evaporates from contaminated oceans.

Contamination is the proper designation for these chemicals, as the Environmental Protection Agency has compiled a long list of health effects from PFAS, including decreased fertility, high blood pressure in pregnant people, increased risk of certain cancers, developmental delays and low birthweight in children, hormonal disruption, high cholesterol, reduced effectiveness of the immune system and more.

Studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that some PFAS can remain in the body for years and can continue to accumulate. Further, our very food supply may have detectable levels of PFAS.

There are many people who take great efforts to eat a balanced diet and maintain a rigorous exercise schedule, all in the name of living a long and healthy life. But it is alarming to know that the fish we consume for healthy oils and the water-resistant clothing we wear while exercising often is perfused with “forever chemicals.”

The state of Illinois already has taken steps to address PFAS contamination in one of its widespread uses: fire-fighting foam. Proper identification, usage and disposal methods have been addressed in the PFAS Reduction Act. Yet even though the two most common compounds in the PFAS family, PFOA and PFOS, are no longer manufactured anywhere in the U.S., they have been replaced with other PFAS.

Can concerned DeKalb residents protect themselves from unnecessary exposure? Yes, there are many steps we can take. What about our own water in DeKalb? Do we need to be concerned?

See next month’s article for best practices in minimizing PFAS in your life.

Please visit the Citizens’ Environmental Commission at bit.ly/DklbCEC and the city of DeKalb Facebook page.

• Clare Kron is a member of the city of DeKalb’s Citizens Environmental Commission.