How 3M Poisoned the World and Then Tried to Conceal It

3M developed and marketed the "forever chemicals" known as PFOS, PFAS and PFBS just after World War Two. They are made by 3M and DuPont They are everywhere and have been since the 1950s. It is virtually impossible to take a sample from any living critter and not find the stuff.

3M and DuPont have known that they are dangerous for a very long time and, like companies everywhere else, tried to cover it up. There was enough of the stuff made to contaminate all of the freshwater on the planet above the level that the EPA considered to be safe. They may have done more damage to the environment than anyone since Thomas Midgley, Jr.

When any corporate spokesman or executive tells you that the products they make are safe or effective or good, be very skeptical. They are lying to you.

Some stuff to look at, both funny:

And not:

People who keep birds as pets have known for a very long time that cooking with Teflon pans would kill their birds. But, as it seems, the chemicals were harming everyone else, as well. There is an argument that PFAS-caused cancers are the leading cause of death of firefighters.

When one thinks of modern medicine and hygiene, humanity has made life a lot better for almost everyone. We don't have cholera epidemics or "polio summers" anymore. The cemeteries are not full of children who died from whooping cough or similar ailments or from infected cuts. But, on the other hand, we've also greatly wrecked the environment over the last 150 years. The way we used to do it, by burning coal and smogging up the cities, was relatively easy to fix (stop burning coal).

But the "forever chemicals" are going to be there after our species has gone extinct.