I’ve read more than a handful of articles on PFAS, but this one really underscored just how prevalent they are- concentrated in fish, dental floss, blood donations, shoes, food packaging, explosives, food, water, the air, etc. Not only does the sheer number of them concern me, but the fact that they will be difficult to replace in anything that needs to be waterproof, high temperature resistant, or perhaps airtight is concerning.
And just like those other things, and smoking, and climate change, etc. ad nauseum, the people who make those chemicals have known for a very long time they pose a serious risk to human and environmental health, and suppressed that information from the public. For example, most can coating recipes are “trade secret” so the public has no idea what’s in them, and indeed can’t know. Pfas and other forever chemicals are used as plasticizers, so they are in a -lot- of stuff in direct contact with food and water (drinking or environmental).
If, instead of being greedy [removed], they had started developing less harmful chemicals back then, we wouldn’t be saturated with the health issues they can cause now, nor would future generations have to cope with the mess being left behind.
I think the real problem is that the public is largely unaware of these things (by design) so we can’t really do anything to avoid it. We don’t know what plastic bottles are made of. We don’t know what fabric is made of or treated with. We barely even know what’s in our actual food, we don’t stand a chance with plastics, which are now everywhere on earth, no exceptions.
Businesses have damaged public health for profit so many times that I don’t think there should be any trust any more. All business processes, research, algorithms, etc should be public. No new materials should be used widespread without 3rd party safety testing.
We can’t keep adding layers of permanent poison to the planet.