Product Testing for Toxins with guest Heather Stapleton, PhD

May 4, 2023

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ANECDOTE

Discovery of Flame Retardants in Dust

Heather Stapleton discovered extremely high levels of flame retardants in house dust samples by accident.
This revealed the importance of studying indoor chemical exposures, as most people spend the majority of their time indoors.

INSIGHT

Halogenated Chemicals & Thyroid Impact

Halogenated aromatic compounds are stable and can interfere with thyroid hormone regulation.
This interference may contribute to rising rates of thyroid disease and cancer, showing the health impact of exposure to these chemicals.

ADVICE

Washing Produce to Remove Pesticides

Wash fruits and vegetables with soap-based detergents or baking soda and vinegar to reduce pesticide residues.
Plain water rinsing is often insufficient to remove residual pesticides.

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Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of The Smart Human Podcast. Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Professor Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist and exposure scientist in the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University. And also Dr. Stapleton serves as director of the Duke environmental analysis laboratory. Today we're talking nonstick, waterproof and greaseproof chemicals, flame retardant chemicals, drinking water quality and different types of water filters and so much more!

Here are a few links that might be helpful

Heather's research website: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/stapletonlab/?_ga=2.18850623.768299926.1674595325-2095479730.1672774084

Heather's foam testing website: http://foam.pratt.duke.edu

Company website for under the sink RO water filter Heather had installed back in 2019: https://www.theperfectwater.com/reverse-osmosis

water filter study: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00004

article on flame retardants: https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/success/2021/stapleton/index.cfm Heather Stapleton Bio: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es2007462

Heather M. Stapleton, Ronie-Richelle Garcia-Johnson Distinguished Professor, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC USA.

Professor Heather Stapleton is an environmental chemist and exposure scientist in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Her research interests focus on identification of halogenated and organophosphate chemicals in building materials, furnishings and consumer products, and estimation of human exposure, particularly in vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children. Her laboratory specializes in analysis of environmental and biological tissues for organic contaminants to support environmental health research. Currently she serves as the Director for the Duke Superfund Research Center, and Director of the Duke Environmental Analysis Laboratory, which is part of NIH's Human Health Environmental Analysis Resource.