HOW WE GOT HERE

For over 80 years, chemical makers have made and profited off the sale of PFAS chemicals. There are now over 5000 chemicals classified as “PFAS”.

Recent reports suggest 3M and DuPont (now Chemours), had sufficient information to know of dangers from some of the first PFAS made – PFOA and PFOS – but continued to make them for decades.

Once communities, scientists, and regulators began to understand the heavy health and environmental price of these chemicals, the companies were eventually forced to “voluntarily” stop making them.

But instead of getting out of the business of PFAS, 3M and Chemours dove further into it and made different versions of PFAS as replacements. These new replacements can have many of the same problematic characteristics as earlier PFAS.

Chemical Whack-A-Mole

Now we are all playing a game of chemical whack-a-mole at the mercy of weak laws and chemical industry influence as replacement chemicals stay one step ahead of health regulators. PFAS remain in numerous products and industrial applications, continue to spread across the globe, and pollute our drinking water, food, bodies, and environment. We face costs likely in the billions to clean up their mess.

The good news is that we can do something about it.

Learn how you can help.