Thread by @Dr_TJRicks

Thread time ladies and germs.

I thought that in the wake of Hurricane Florence, people should be aware that a secret chemical byproduct has now been spread across the state from the Bladen county.

The water in Wilmington has been poison for decades.

#tjto50K

So unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month, you’re aware that hurricane Florence fucked NC up.

What you may not be aware of is that the water in Wilmington NC has been fucked up for decades.

People have only been talking about the sewage in the flood waters.

There’s been something lurking in the water for much longer.

And it’s juicy. So juicy that the real life Erin Brockovich has done an expose’ on it previously that’s basically been buried.

Who’s responsible for the poison Wilmington water?

None other than our friends DuPont.

Specifically one of their subsidiaries, Chemours.

They’ve been dumping byproducts from an experimental nonstick coating called GenX into the water supply.

So what is GenX and why do we care?

Good question.

GenX is what’s known as a PFOA.

PFOA stands for perfluorooctanoic acid.

The structure is below 👇🏾

It is a building block of typical Teflon coatings.

The dangers of PFOAs and other perfluorinated compounds are well documented, especially by the EPA.

There are 2 things to worry about with GenX and compounds like it.

A) Toxicity
B) Environmental Persistance

Let’s talk about toxicity first.

So here are some of the toxic effects of PFOAs

💀Low birth weight
💀Cancer
💀Thyroid problems
💀Autoimmune Disorders
💀Liver Damage

Read more about the toxic effects here 👇🏾

epa.gov/sites/producti…

The next part is environmental persistance.

Fluorinated compounds like GenX are extremely hard to degrade because of the Carbon-Fluorine bond.

Fluorine is the most electronegative element on the planet.

Because of this,

The carbon-fluorine bond is abnormally strong.

It is also the strongest single bond that can be made with carbon.

Because of this, the normal mechanisms that would break down a carbon-hydrogen bond will have a more difficult time breaking a C-F bond.

This makes it a persistent organic contaminant.

Basically it sticks around for a very long time.

This is the same reasoning that applies to some fluorinated drugs.

Here’s a list of those drugs that include antidepressants like Paxil and Prozac 👇🏾
slweb.org/ftrcfluorinate…

It’s unclear whether or not these compounds release fluoride ion that we’ve talked about before so I’ll leave that up to speculation.

The important part is that the water from the cape fear area that’s been contaminated with this stuff for years has now migrated across the state

The scary part is that there are no clear cut regulation standards for these metabolites so there’s no real concern for their current levels in flood waters.

The terrifying thing is that GenX isn’t the only metabolite that’s been found in that water supply

1,4 dioxane has also been found in high levels in the cape fear watershed.

The dangers of 1,4 dioxane include:
💀increased incidence of lung, liver, skin, and gall bladder cancer
💀kidney damage
💀liver damage

The hurricane has spread these chemicals through flood waters.

The rub is that GenX is formulated to repel water so much like other organic contaminants like synthetic estrogens,

It’s incredibly hard to filter these things out of the water supply with conventional water treatment equipment.

Even when waters recede, it will be left.

And North Carolina residents will be feeling the effects for years to come.

Moms in the Wilmington area known as Cancer Moms gave birth to children with various blood cancers due to the toxic water supply.

How will Hurricane Florence shape the future of NCs citizens?

Very good question.

There’s already been a ton of lawsuits and I’m sure more are on the way.

So what should you do to protect yourself if you’re an affected NC resident or have an affected family member?

There’s no better time to invest in a quality water filter than now.

Here’s a company truly invested in the GenX problem in NC

hydroviv.com/blogs/water-sm…

This is not an affiliate, just a site I found that appears to want to do the right thing.

Beyond that, activated charcoal filters will be your best friend.

If you’re directly affected by this, it’s not something you want to play around with.

I know many people here are from NC and while I can’t soak up all the flood water, I figured I could make a contribution from afar and blow a whistle so you don’t end up like flint.

Share with people who you think need to know.

Be safe. Be informed.

And most importantly stay sharp.

This is a hurricane that will undoubtedly show us the damage that we’ve done to the environment by taxing the thing that we need most for survival.

#tjto50K