Poisonous ski and snowboard waxes pose the two human wellbeing and environmental dangers. The most dangerous ingredient found in harmful waxes are perfluorocarbons (PFCs). Perfluorocarbons are thoroughly fluorinated compounds, synthetically developed by combining a hydrocarbon (like paraffin wax) with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The acid strips the hydrogen atoms off the carbon backbone and replaces them with fluorine atoms. The phrase “fluorocarbon” refers to any carbon-based molecule which has been absolutely or partly fluorinated. As a result, the terms “PFC” and “fluorocarbon” are often utilised interchangeably.
Fluorinated ski waxes (fluoros) are, therefore far, the most strong and hydrophobic. The additional hydrophobic a wax is, the greater h2o repellency it has. It is properly recognized that, in skiing, fluoros obtain the ideal periods for racers. But what is significantly less effectively known is that fluoros also have the best overall health and environmental effect.
When fluorocarbons are exposed to superior temperatures, poisonous fumes are released. In ski and snowboard outlets, specialists breathe these fumes. Prolonged exposure to the fumes of fluorocarbons is recognised to lead to sever damage to respiratory passages, bloody noses, and increased degrees of PFC in the blood. Some studies of this kind of professionals have exposed PFC blood content material concentrations up to 45% greater than the standard population. PFC and PFOA are also acknowledged to be potent greenhouse gases.
The toxic affect of fluorinated waxes is further propagated when the wax is solid off from the base of skis and snowboards into the snowpack. In the spring, the contaminants still left by fluorinated waxes are carried down to watersheds as non-biodegradable, environmentally hazardous molecules. PFC and PFOA keep on being in the setting as persistent natural pollutants, and are not identified to degrade by any purely natural processes. Effects of animal research of PFOA show that it can bring about several varieties of tumors, neonatal dying, and may have harmful consequences on the immune, liver, and endocrine devices.
How quite a few skiers does it just take? Well, if one skier calculates how considerably wax he really employs and leaves powering on the mountain in excess of a year, it may possibly not total to much. Nonetheless, it is the collective affect that is the problem. In accordance to the Countrywide Ski Places Affiliation, the 2007-2008 ski year experienced 60.1 million skier times at resorts in the US. They estimate that in between 1979 and 2009, the US has had at least 50 million skier times every yr. That results in much more than 1.5 billion pairs of skis and snowboards shedding wax into the snowpack for 30 decades in the United States by yourself.
As the dangers of toxic waxes turn out to be additional effectively acknowledged, conscientious skiers and snowboarders are turning into ever more enthusiastic to search for out non-harmful wax sources. Glide-on is just one these types of different. Instead than toxic substances, Glide-on has an inert (environmentally neutral) polymer additional that boosts its longevity, pace and base security. So you don’t have to sacrifice effectiveness for non-harmful. At Glide-on, we are very pleased to present an great choice to toxic ski waxes and we consider this will be the way of the foreseeable future.
