Part 10b: Are you Wiping Your Butt With PFAS?

Biology & Survival Series - Paper Products

In my haste to publish Part 10 on household cleaning and personal care products, I neglected to mention an important contamination vector most are not aware of: paper products.

In 2023, researchers at the University of Florida tested 21 major toilet paper brands from North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. They were looking for PFAS, the synthetic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer, immune suppression, and reproductive harm. They found them in every single sample.

The specific compound, 6:2 diPAP, showed up across all brands and all continents. The contamination is global. It doesn’t stay as 6:2 diPAP, either. It breaks down in the body into other PFAS compounds, including PFOA, one of the most studied and most harmful forever chemicals in existence. The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, estimated that toilet paper contributes about 4% of the 6:2 diPAP found in US sewage, 35% in Sweden, and up to 89% in France.

How does PFAS end up in toilet paper? Paper mills use PFAS during the wood-to-pulp conversion process, applying it to equipment to keep paper from sticking. “We believe it comes from the pulping process and is put on instruments to keep paper from sticking,” lead author Timothy Townsend told Healthline. Both virgin and recycled toilet paper tested positive. There’s no opting out by choosing one type over the other.

And PFAS is only one layer of the problem.

The Chemical Cocktail in Your Bathroom

BPA in recycled paper. Bisphenol A, the endocrine disruptor found in plastic bottles and can linings, also turns up in toilet paper. A 2011 study in Environmental Science & Technology tested 202 paper products and found BPA in 81% of non-receipt paper products tested, including napkins and toilet paper. The pathway is straightforward: thermal receipt paper (the shiny paper your grocery receipt is printed on) contains massive amounts of BPA. When receipts enter the recycling stream, that BPA contaminates everything else. Recycled toilet paper contained 3.2 to 41.1 milligrams of BPA per kilogram of dry material. Virgin paper contained roughly one-tenth as much. Research from Dresden University found BPA concentrations in toilet paper as high as 430 mg/kg dry mass. This is one of those unfortunate cases where recycled products are significantly worse than new ones.

Formaldehyde. The same chemical used to preserve cadavers is also used to make your toilet paper hold together when wet. Melamine formaldehyde resin serves as a wet-strength agent in paper manufacturing. Formaldehyde is a Group 1 carcinogen (the highest classification, meaning there is sufficient evidence it causes cancer in humans). In at least one documented case, a woman suffered four years of chronic vulvar irritation before doctors traced it to a formaldehyde allergy triggered by her bleached toilet paper. Paper towels use the same wet-strength resins, and according to the CDC, skin contact with these products can result in direct exposure.

Dioxins and furans from chlorine bleaching. Wood pulp is naturally brown. Making it white requires bleaching, and the most common method uses chlorine compounds. That process generates dioxins and furans as byproducts, both of which bioaccumulate in the body and are classified as persistent organic pollutants. Modern Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) processes produce less than the old elemental chlorine method, but “less” is not “none.” These compounds show up in paper towels, toilet paper, and other bleached paper products, and they leach into food and beverages when those products are used as plates or cups.

The Exposure Math

Americans use an average of 141 rolls of toilet paper per capita per year, about 28 pounds of the stuff. That’s the highest per-capita consumption in the world. Add paper towels (multiple times daily for most households), paper napkins at meals, paper plates at cookouts, paper coffee cups at work.

Think about how many times you touch paper products in a single day. Morning coffee in a paper cup. Paper towel to dry your hands. Toilet paper, multiple times. Paper napkins at lunch. Paper plate at a barbecue. Each contact is a small exposure. Individually, the concentrations are low. Cumulatively, over a year, over a decade, over a lifetime? PFAS don’t break down. That’s literally what “forever chemical” means. They accumulate in your blood, your liver, your bones.

And it isn’t just direct skin contact. Consumer Reports tested over 100 food packaging products from major restaurant and grocery chains in 2022 and found PFAS in packaging from every single retailer. More than half of the 118 products tested showed evidence of forever chemicals. That includes paper bags for french fries, hamburger wrappers, salad bowls, and single-use paper plates. Even products labeled “100% compostable” or made from “responsible sources” tested positive. The chemicals migrate directly into food, especially when that food is fatty, salty, or acidic.

A separate study by IPEN found PFAS, including globally banned substances, in single-use food packaging from 17 countries.

What You Can Do About It

The good news: swapping out contaminated paper products doesn’t require going off-grid or weaving your own cloth. A few targeted changes cover most of your daily exposure.

Toilet paper. Bamboo-based, Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) brands avoid the worst offenders. Reel Paper and Who Gives a Crap (their bamboo line, specifically) both use 100% bamboo fiber with TCF bleaching. PlantPaper and Caboo are also rated well by the NRDC. Bamboo grows rapidly without pesticides, and TCF bleaching uses hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine, eliminating the dioxin problem entirely.

The other option: get a bidet. A TUSHY Classic 3.0 bidet attachment installs on your existing toilet in minutes with no extra plumbing. It uses about one pint of water per use and cuts toilet paper consumption by roughly 80%. Less paper touching sensitive tissue means less chemical exposure, period. Most of the world already does this. Americans are the outliers. When I went to Japan a few years ago I fell in love, and installed a bidet in our house when I got home. Bonus: next time there’s a supply chain disruption and you can’t get TP at the store, you have other options.

Paper towels. Switch to Grove Co. Bamboo Paper Towels for when you need disposable, or invest in reusable cotton or bamboo towels for everyday kitchen use. Swedish dishcloths (cellulose + cotton) handle most of what paper towels do and last for months.

Napkins, plates, and cups. Cloth napkins at home cost almost nothing and eliminate the problem entirely. For plates and cups, glass, ceramic, or stainless steel are the obvious permanent swaps. When you need disposable plates for events, look for uncoated options from AJM Packaging or check that “compostable” claims specifically include PFAS-free certification, since Consumer Reports found that “eco-friendly” labels on paper products are essentially meaningless when it comes to PFAS content.

Takeout food. Bring your own containers when picking up food. It looks a little odd the first time. Then it just looks like you’ve been paying attention. Or you could stop eating takeout and cook more at home - it’s better on every level, and it’ll save you money, too.