If you are used to wearing a smartwatch you may not like this news: in contact with the skin, the strap could release potentially harmful substances into our body
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PFAS also in the rubber straps of smartwatches? Possible. If they are everywhere now, the news coming from the American University of Notre Dame might not surprise us too much.
In a survey published on Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the scholars analyzed 22 watch straps purchased in the United States of numerous brands and of different price ranges.
What it turns out is that more expensive bracelets made from fluorinated synthetic rubber would have particularly high amounts of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA).
The study
In short, the US study found i forever chemicals also in fluorinated synthetic rubberthe material used for smartband bracelets.
From the 22 straps analyzed, it was found that the most expensive bracelets made of fluorinated synthetic rubber revealed particularly high quantities of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA).
How come? If these chemical substances, the “eternal pollutants”, are widely used in many industrial sectors because they have water-repellent and oil-repellent properties and resist high temperatures, then it is nice to explain: precisely because of the high capacity of PFAS to repel water, oils and sweat, fluorinated rubber is perfect for “smart” and “fitness” watches used for training.
The most expensive ones – which should perform better – according to the study are also those with the most forever chemicals. Wearing them could therefore represent a source of absorption of these compounds, which literally penetrate the skin.
This discovery is notable for very high concentrations of a type of chemical that remains unchanged in objects that remain in prolonged contact with our skin, says Graham Peaslee, co-author of the study and professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The team of scientists examined several commercially available bands for the presence of fluoride and 20 individual PFAS. Most of the 22 bracelets tested were new, some had already been worn.
The 13 straps that claimed to be made of fluoroelastomers contained the element fluorine (indicating the potential presence of PFAS). Even 2 of the 9 straps that did not indicate this material inside them contained fluorine.
Among the samples analyzed, those with the highest fluoride concentration belonged to the highest price ranges . PFHxA was the most common compound among the 20 searched, present in 9 bracelets. The average concentration of the substance was nearly 800 parts per billion (ppb), and one sample exceeded 16,000 ppb.
The most notable thing we found in this study was the very high concentration of just one PFAS: There were some samples with concentrations above 1,000 parts per billion of PFHxA, which is much higher than most PFAS we’ve seen in consumer products, concludes Graham Peaslee.
