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> "Last winter, I rode a ski lift alongside a guy who claimed to be a retired Olympic ski tuner." On another note, this is apparantely a high-risk occupation d

> "Last winter, I rode a ski lift alongside a guy who claimed to be a retired Olympic ski tuner." On another note, this is apparantely a high-risk occupation due to exposure to PFAS and other carcinogens in ski wax. The FIS recently banned the use of fluorinated wax in competitions, but it was the norm for many years. Not great to be a ski tuner breathing in all those heated/aerosolised PFAS compounds...

swader999 2y ago
Yes, we used to wear a p100 respirator with those waxes. Many didn't. Can't purchase them any more and I'm glad because they were crazy expensive
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
GuB-42 2y ago
Are there studies that show that ski tuners are more susceptible to some specific diseases, and that it can be tied to particular chemicals, PFAS in particular. That would be interesting, as all the worries about PFAS is more along the lines of "it may be bad, and if it is we are screwed as we have dumped so much of it in nature and it doesn't degrade", but concrete evidence is still lacking today. Note that overheated PTFE is bad, but we are talking over 250°C, which is, I believe, way less than the temperatures used by ski tuners.
- Reason077 2y ago
  I don't know if there are any specific studies of disease rates in ski technicians, or former ski technicians. But perfluorinated compounds are known to cause disease (including cancers) in animal studies, and blood studies have shown alarming levels in ski technicians, even months after the end of a season. There are certainly cases in other industries (such as the Dupont factory workers) who have demonstrably high rates of disease from occupational exposure to PFAS. The evidence was certainly compelling enough to convince the FIS to ban fluorinated wax, and from what I understand this ban is taken quite seriously. They have devices to check for fluorinated compounds on skis, and even the smallest trace of it can get you disqualified.

swader999 2y ago

Yes, we used to wear a p100 respirator with those waxes. Many didn't. Can't purchase them any more and I'm glad because they were crazy expensive

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

GuB-42 2y ago

Are there studies that show that ski tuners are more susceptible to some specific diseases, and that it can be tied to particular chemicals, PFAS in particular. That would be interesting, as all the worries about PFAS is more along the lines of "it may be bad, and if it is we are screwed as we have dumped so much of it in nature and it doesn't degrade", but concrete evidence is still lacking today. Note that overheated PTFE is bad, but we are talking over 250°C, which is, I believe, way less than the temperatures used by ski tuners.

Reason077 2y ago
I don't know if there are any specific studies of disease rates in ski technicians, or former ski technicians. But perfluorinated compounds are known to cause disease (including cancers) in animal studies, and blood studies have shown alarming levels in ski technicians, even months after the end of a season. There are certainly cases in other industries (such as the Dupont factory workers) who have demonstrably high rates of disease from occupational exposure to PFAS. The evidence was certainly compelling enough to convince the FIS to ban fluorinated wax, and from what I understand this ban is taken quite seriously. They have devices to check for fluorinated compounds on skis, and even the smallest trace of it can get you disqualified.