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Speaker 1: Welcome to Thrilling Threads. Today, we are starting with a

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story that feels like it's straight out of a mystery novel.

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We're in Chicago nineteen twenty nine and.

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Speaker 2: People are dying in their homes, seemingly without cause exactly.

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Speaker 1: These aren't crimes of passion or anything obvious. People are

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just passing away and it takes weeks, tragically for the

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authorities to piece it together.

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Speaker 2: After fifteen deaths, they finally find the culprit. It's the

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one thing everyone was bringing into their homes as a

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sign of modern progress.

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Speaker 1: The refrigerator.

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Speaker 2: The refrigerator, yeah, a silent killer. The refrigerant they used

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back then was a chemical called methyl chloride' it's toxic,

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it has no smell, and it's flammable, so a tiny leak.

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Speaker 1: You'd never know. And other models used gases that were

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so flammable that a spark from a stove could cause

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an explosion. It was a genuine public health.

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Speaker 2: Crisis, which you know, spurred this massive mission. Companies like

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DuPont put their top minds on it. The goal was simple, really.

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Speaker 1: Find a new chemical for refrigeration, one that was completely inert,

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not toxic, not flammable, just safe.

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Speaker 2: And it's the irony of it all that is so profound.

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This quest, which was born out of a desire to

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save lives, unintentionally created a material that would decades later

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be described as slowly poisoning everyone on the planet.

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Speaker 1: And that's our mission today on Thrilling Threads. We're going

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to dive into publicly available documents, corporate records, scientific testimony,

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all to untangle the threads of one of the biggest

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chemical cover ups in history.

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Speaker 2: We're looking at a massive worldwide contamination and the crazy

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thing is it's from chemicals that are completely man made.

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You can trace the fingerprints back to just a couple

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of companies, and for you listening.

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Speaker 1: This deep dive is really a shortcut. It's a way

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to understand why you almost certainly have these chemicals in

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your body.

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Speaker 2: Right now, and more importantly, what the science says you

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can actually do about it.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's get into it. The story of this magic

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powder begins in nineteen thirty.

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Speaker 2: Six, right in the search for that safe refrigerant, DuPont

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puts a young chemist on the job. He's only twenty sive.

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His name is Roy J.

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Speaker 1: Plunkett, and he's working with a gas called tetrafluoroethylene tf

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E for short.

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Speaker 2: TFE seemed promising. It was stable, so the thinking was

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pretty straightforward. Could this stuff do the heat exchange needed

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for refrigeration without killing people?

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Speaker 1: But the actual discovery was a complete accident, one of

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those classic aha moments. Plunkett and his assistant go to

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use the cylinder of TFI gas.

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Speaker 2: A cylinder they think is full, right, he.

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Speaker 1: Twists the valve and nothing comes out.

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Speaker 2: So his first thought is, Oh, it must have leaked.

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The cylinder is a dud. He's about to toss it.

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Speaker 1: But something stops him. He picks it up and realizes

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it's still heavy. It weighs the same as a full cylinder, which.

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Speaker 2: Just doesn't make any sense.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: If the gas is gone, the weight should be gone.

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Speaker 1: It was a moment of pure confusion. So what do

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they do. They grab a saw.

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Speaker 2: They literally saw the steel cylinder in half, and inside

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there's no gas. Instead, the walls are coated with this strange, white, slippery.

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Speaker 1: Powder, something Plunket had never seen before. So the big

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question is what happened to the gas?

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Speaker 2: Well, plunk It put it together. He reasoned that under

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the intense pressure inside that cylinder. Maybe with a little

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help from some iron bits from the cylinder wall acting

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as a catalyst.

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Speaker 1: Something must have snapped.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, Uh, the double bond between the two carbon atoms

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in that TFE molecule.

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Speaker 1: It just broke, and that set off a chain reaction.

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Speaker 2: A classic polymerization. Once that bond breaks, each carbon atom

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is looking for something to link to, so it grabs

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onto a carbon from a neighboring TF molecule.

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Speaker 1: Which breaks its double bond, and so on and so on.

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Speaker 2: Thousands, maybe millions of times the gas had transformed, linking

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up into these incredibly long chains. The result was this powder,

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polytetrafluoroethylene ptfe.

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Speaker 1: Plunk. It was apparently furious at first, this weird substance

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had ruined his whole experiment.

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Speaker 2: But before he threw it out, his scientific curiosity took over.

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He started testing it. He pours it, beads right off.

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He tries the strongest acid he has in the lab. Nothing,

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the strongest base, every solvent he can think of.

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Speaker 1: Nothing. The powder just sits there. It's completely inert and nonreactive. Yeah,

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it seems.

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Speaker 2: Indestructible, and that property, that chemical indifference, is the whole story.

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It's both the miracle and the curse. It all comes

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down to one single thing.

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Speaker 1: In its chemistry, the carbon fluorine bond, the CF bond.

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Speaker 2: We really have to zoom in on this because it

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explains everything that comes later, why it's so useful and

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why it's so dangerous.

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Speaker 1: So why is that bond so incredibly strong?

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Speaker 2: It really boils down to fluorine being well greedy chemically,

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speaking of course, greed. It's the most electron hungry atom

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on the entire periodic table. We call that electron negativity.

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It's just one electron short of having a full outer shell,

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and it wants that last electron more than anything.

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Speaker 1: So when it bonds with carbon, it doesn't just share

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an electron.

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Speaker 2: It practically steals it. It pulls that electron from Carbon's

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so close to its own nucleus, and because fluorine is

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such a tiny atom, its nucleus gets exceptionally close to

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that electron.

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Speaker 1: Which creates a powerful attraction.

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Speaker 2: An incredibly powerful electrostatic attraction. The fluorine becomes slightly negative,

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the carbons slightly positive, and it locks that bond into place.

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It's less of a handshake and more of a chemical vice. Grip.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So in terms of energy, what does that mean.

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Speaker 2: It means the CF bond is the strongest single bond

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that carbon can form with any other atom. Period It

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takes a colossal amount of energy to break it. Heat

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acid enzymes in your body. They just don't have enough power.

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Speaker 1: So when you string all those TFE molecules together to

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make PTFE, you get this long carbon backbone that's completely shielded.

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Speaker 2: It's like an armored shell of these super strong CF bonds.

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Any other molecules like water or stomach acid just bounce

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off the PTFE molecule chemically ignores them.

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Speaker 1: And that explains why Plunkets magic powder wouldn't react with anything.

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Speaker 2: And that persistence, the fact that it never breaks down

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is exactly what causes all the problems later. If it

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doesn't break down in a lab, it's not going to

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break down in a river or in the soil or

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inside you.

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Speaker 1: So Plunkett has this incredible material, but at first they

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have no idea what to do with it.

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Speaker 2: Right, it's a solution without a problem. But that changed

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very quickly because of a massive top secret government.

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Speaker 1: Project, Manhattan Project.

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Speaker 2: DuPont was contracted by the US Army to help develop

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the atomic bomb, and this is where this kitchen staple

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gets tangled up in world history.

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Speaker 1: To enrich uranium for the bomb, they first had to

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turn it into a gas, a really really nasty gas

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called uranium hexafluoride.

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Speaker 2: And this gas was unbelievably corrosive. It just ate through

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everything it touched. All the pipes the gas gets the

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seals at the massive Oak Ridge Enrichment plant were constantly.

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Speaker 1: Failing, which meant they had to shut down production all

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the time to replace parts. Yeah, with a huge bottleneck

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in the war effort.

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Speaker 2: But then someone at DuPont had a brilliant idea. They

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had this inert powder PTFE. What if they could use

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it to line the equipment.

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Speaker 1: They figured out how to machine the powder under extreme

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pressure into solid shapes, gaskets, seals, linings for the pipes.

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Speaker 2: And it worked perfectly. The uranium hexafluoride was no match

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for it. The stuff was so good. The plant manager,

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a man named Gordon Fee, later said there was never

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a substitute considered.

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Speaker 1: As far as I know, dupot knew they had a winner.

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In nineteen forty four they trademarked.

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Speaker 2: It and the name is actually pretty clever. They took

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te from tetra fl from fluoro and then just added

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o n at the end.

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Speaker 1: Like other miracle materials of the era, rayon.

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Speaker 2: Nylas exactly and you get teflon.

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Speaker 1: But moving from making a few gaskets for the army

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to mass production was a huge challenge.

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Speaker 2: A nightmare. Actually. The material's greatest strengths were also its

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biggest weaknesses for manufacturing. It resists solvents, so you can't

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dissolve it to spray it. It's stable at high heat,

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so it's hard to melt and mold, And there was.

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Speaker 1: A much bigger, more terrifying problem. Explosions.

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Speaker 2: The chemical reaction that turns tfe gas into teflon polymer,

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it's exothermic. It releases a ton.

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Speaker 1: Of heat, and if you don't control that heat.

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Speaker 2: If the reaction gets localized and heats up past about

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two hundred degrees celsius, the tf gas just decomposes violently.

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It releases a massive amount of energy all at once.

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And this wasn't just a theoretical risk, no, It tragically

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happened at their Arlington plant in nineteen forty four, a

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massive explosion killed two workers. Productions screeched to a halt.

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They had to find a way to make it safe.

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Speaker 1: The obvious solution to get rid of heat is water.

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Water is amazing at absorbing energy.

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Speaker 2: Right, But there's a problem. TFE gas is hydrophobic. It

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hates water. It won't dissolve.

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Speaker 1: So if you just bubble the gas through water, it

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doesn't mix. The reaction still happens in a concentrated dry spot,

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and you still have the risk of an explosion.

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Speaker 2: And they needed a bridge, a chemical middleman that could

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get the TFE gas to disperse evenly throughout the water.

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Speaker 1: And this is where the second key chemical enters our story, right,

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the one that would cause all the trouble.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen fifty one, DuPont went shopping. They bought a

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special kind of acid from another company three M chemical

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was called perfluoroectonoic acid.

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Speaker 1: We know it today is PFOA, or much more.

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Speaker 2: Simply C eight C eight because it has a chain

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of eight carbon atoms, all covered in those super strong

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fluorine bonds.

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Speaker 1: So what was so special about C eight? Why was it?

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The solution?

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Speaker 2: C eight acts like a very powerful industrial soap, what

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chemists call an amphophilic molecule.

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Speaker 1: Meaning it has two different ends.

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Speaker 2: Precisely, it has a long tail made of carbon and fluorine,

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which is hydrophobic. It hates water, just like teflon. But

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on the other end, it has an acid head and

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that part is hydrophilic. It loves water.

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Speaker 1: So it's a chemical mediator, a perfect one.

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Speaker 2: When you add C eight to the water, the molecules

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instantly self assemble. They form these tiny microscopic bubbles or

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spheres called muscells.

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Speaker 1: And how does that work.

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Speaker 2: The water hating tails all tuck inside the bubble, away

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from the water, and the water loving heads all face outwards,

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interacting with the water.

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Speaker 1: So you get these little dry pockets floating in.

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Speaker 2: The water exactly. And when you inject the TFE gas,

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which also hates water, it rushes straight into the dry

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core of those caa missls. Suddenly your TFE is spread

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out perfectly evenly throughout the water bath and you.

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Speaker 1: Can start the reaction safely.

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Speaker 2: Yes, the reaction happens gently inside millions of these tiny bubbles,

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and the water all around them just soaks up the heat.

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The explosion risk was gone, and as.

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Speaker 1: A huge bonus, the teflon was now suspended in a

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liquid solution.

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Speaker 2: A milky liquid, which meant, for the first time, you

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could spray it onto a surface as a coating.

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Speaker 1: I have to admit I've always wondered how you get

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something that's famous for being non stick to actually stick

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to a pan.

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Speaker 2: It's a really ingenious trick, and it's purely mechanical, not chemical.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so how does it work?

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Speaker 2: First they take the metal pan and they sam blast

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it with very fine grit. This creates a rough surface

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full of microscopic, jagged grooves and valleys.

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Speaker 1: You're creating an anchor point.

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Speaker 2: That's a perfect way to put it. Then they spray

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on the teflon solution. When they heat the pan to

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cure it, the water and the c eight just evaporate away,

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but the teflon polymer is left behind, and as it

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heats it softens, flows into all this tiny crevices and

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then hardens. It's not chemically bonded to the pan at all.

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It's just mechanically locked into the surface.

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Speaker 1: That's brilliant. So after the military secrecy was lifted, this

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technology just exploded onto the consumer market.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. The story goes that in nineteen fifty four, a

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French engineer named Mark Gregoire coated his fishing gear with

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it to stop tangles. His wife saw it and said, hey,

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why don't you try that on one of my pans.

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Speaker 1: And the nonstick cooking revolution was born from there.

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Speaker 2: It was just everywhere. DuPont's marketing was incredible. Even oatmeal

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won't stick to teflon. The sales were astronomical.

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Speaker 1: And it went way beyond just pans. Three M used

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a similar chemical PFOS to create Scotch Guard for stained

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resistant carpets.

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Speaker 2: You had gortex using PTFE for waterproof but breathable jackets.

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Because it's so inert, it was perfect for medical implants

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that the body wouldn't reject.

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Speaker 1: It was even us to coat the steel framework of

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the Statue of Liberty.

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Speaker 2: It was so untouchable that it became part of the culture.

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In the late eighties, the mob boss John Gotti was

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called the Teflon Dawn because no criminal charges would ever

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stick to him.

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Speaker 1: By the end of the nineties, that Tefron business alone

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was making DuPont about a billion dollars a year. They

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seemed completely invincible.

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Speaker 2: Chemically and commercially, yes, But underneath that shiny nonstick surface,

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the true cost was starting to bubble.

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Speaker 1: Up, which brings us to a small town in West Virginia, Carkersburg,

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home of the first commercial teflon.

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Speaker 2: Plant and home to a farmer named Earl Tenant.

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Speaker 1: Earl's story is really where the cover up begins to unravel.

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He hires a lawyer, Rob Billet, for a very strange reason.

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His cows are dying.

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Speaker 2: And not in a normal way. They were just wasting away.

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Their teeth were turning black, they were growing tumors, the

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hair was falling off their hoofs vets. Had no idea

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what was causing it.

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Speaker 1: Earl had some VHS capes he'd filmed, and he showed

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them to Rob. They showed his cows standing in this

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creek and this milky white phone was coming out of

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a discharge.

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Speaker 2: Pipe, a pipe with a sign on it e I.

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Speaker 1: Do Pont th Namoor in Company. It was draining directly

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from the Washington Works factory into the creek on his farm.

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Speaker 2: Now you have to understand, in a town like Parkersburg,

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DuPont was the town. They provided all the jobs, they

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built community centers, they were everything.

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Speaker 1: So when word got out that Earl was investigating DuPont,

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he and his family became outcasts.

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Speaker 2: People would cross the street to avoid them. The social

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pressure was.

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Speaker 1: Immense, but Rob Billett took the case. He figured he'd

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just look at the EPA permits for the factory.

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Speaker 2: Right, those permits list every chemical a company is allowed

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to discharge. But nothing on the list could explain the

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white foam or what was happening to those cows. The

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mystery substance wasn't on the permits.

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Speaker 1: Now, it's important to make a distinction here. The teflon itself,

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the PTFE was generally known to be safe if you

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ate it. The molecules are just too big and inert.

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Speaker 2: To be absorbed, right, It just passes through you. The

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bigger concern with teflon was always what happens when.

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Speaker 1: You overheat it orr fume fever.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, if you heat a pan to over say three

306
00:14:03,519 --> 00:14:07,080
hundred and fifty celsius, it releases fumes that can give

307
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you flu like symptoms. It's especially toxic to pet birds.

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Speaker 1: But the cows weren't being cooked, so Robin knew it

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00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,919
had to be something else. He filed a legal request

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for every single operational document from the.

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Speaker 2: Plant, and DuPont probably trying to bury him in paperwork

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sent him over sixty thousand documents, stacks and stacks of boxes.

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Speaker 1: But Rob read every single one, and one name kept

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appearing over and over again. C. Eight. This is where

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00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,919
the story turns from an industrial accident into an active

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coverup because Rob found internal DuPont records from nineteen sixty one, the.

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Speaker 2: Same year non stick pans were first sold, and these

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were reports from their own scientists about toxicity tests they

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00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:47,720
ran on C eight.

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Speaker 1: And the results were not good, not at all.

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Speaker 2: They found that feeding rats, even a small amount, just

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00:14:52,559 --> 00:14:55,960
one point five milligrams per kilogram of body weight, caused

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00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,320
their livers to grow abnormally.

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Speaker 1: Large, and the higher dose was lethal.

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Speaker 2: Yes, around five hundred and seventy miligrams per kilogram. Now

326
00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:06,759
that's a high dose. But the real concern wasn't immediate death.

327
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It was something much more insidious.

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Speaker 1: It was about two key properties that really define this

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00:15:12,039 --> 00:15:13,960
whole family of forever chemicals.

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Speaker 2: The first is persistence. Just like teflon C eight is

331
00:15:17,919 --> 00:15:20,840
covered in those CF bonds, it does not break down,

332
00:15:20,919 --> 00:15:23,159
not in water, not in soil, not in your body.

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It just stays for.

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Speaker 1: Decades, eighty centuries.

335
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Speaker 2: And the second property bioaccumulation. This is the really scary

336
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,360
part Ight's structure. That chain of carbons looks a lot

337
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,159
like the natural fatty acids our bodies use for energy

338
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and self function.

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Speaker 1: So it's like a trojan horse.

340
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,639
Speaker 2: An excellent analogy because it looks at a fatty acid.

341
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,440
It can basically trick the body's transport systems. It hitches

342
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,279
a ride on proteins in the bloodstream and gets carried everywhere.

343
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Speaker 1: To the liver, the kidneys, the brain.

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Speaker 2: Pretty much anywhere. And because the body has no enzymes

345
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,360
that can break that CF bond, it can't get rid

346
00:15:55,399 --> 00:15:59,519
of it. So every tiny exposure, day after day just adds.

347
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Speaker 1: Up, builds up in your tissues over your entire lifetime.

348
00:16:02,919 --> 00:16:04,000
It's a dicking time bomb.

349
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Speaker 2: And DuPont's own internal studies kept confirming the danger. By

350
00:16:07,799 --> 00:16:10,840
nineteen sixty two, they knew it could damage the stomach, brain,

351
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and lungs and rats. By nineteen sixty five they saw

352
00:16:14,159 --> 00:16:17,159
the same effects and dogs. They were even studying monkeys

353
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:18,919
and some of them were just dropping dead.

354
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Speaker 1: All of this evidence toxic effects across multiple organs in

355
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:27,200
multiple species was known inside the company for decades.

356
00:16:26,919 --> 00:16:29,080
Speaker 2: And it was never shared not with the public, not

357
00:16:29,159 --> 00:16:32,120
with the EPA, not with the wider scientific community. They

358
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:33,799
actively kept its secret.

359
00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:35,879
Speaker 1: And that secret might have stayed buried if not for

360
00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,360
a completely unrelated piece of research happening in nineteen seventy five.

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Speaker 2: Right scientists across the US were studying the effects of

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00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,200
adding inorganic fluoride to drinking water to prevent tooth decay.

363
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Speaker 1: So they were taking blood samples from the general population

364
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000
to see how much was being absorbed.

365
00:16:51,559 --> 00:16:54,679
Speaker 2: And they found the inorganic fluoride, just like they expected,

366
00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:57,960
but they also found something else, a second type of fluorine.

367
00:16:57,960 --> 00:16:59,399
They couldn't identify.

368
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:02,720
Speaker 1: Organic floor the kind with carbon fluorine bonds.

369
00:17:02,399 --> 00:17:05,319
Speaker 2: Which does not occur in nature, and the levels didn't

370
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,000
match up with water fluoridation. They had no idea where

371
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:09,480
it was coming from, so they.

372
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Speaker 1: Reached out to three M, the main manufacture of these

373
00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:15,039
kinds of chemicals, and asked if it could be one

374
00:17:15,039 --> 00:17:17,359
of their compounds like PFOA.

375
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Speaker 2: At first, three M claimed they had no idea what

376
00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:22,119
it was, complete ignorance, but.

377
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,200
Speaker 1: Just three months later their own internal documents show they

378
00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,759
confirmed it. They knew their chemicals were in the blood

379
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of the general US population.

380
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Speaker 2: And they didn't tell the researchers. They sat on that

381
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information for years. They knew since nineteen seventy five that

382
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,200
pretty much everyone was contaminated.

383
00:17:37,519 --> 00:17:40,880
Speaker 1: At the same time, both DuPont and three MS started

384
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:43,240
checking the blood of their own factory workers.

385
00:17:43,079 --> 00:17:45,920
Speaker 2: And what they found was staggering. The C eight levels

386
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,160
in their workers were a thousand times higher than in

387
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,480
the general population, and many of those workers were already

388
00:17:51,519 --> 00:17:52,920
showing signs of liver disease.

389
00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:56,359
Speaker 1: In all the while, the Washington Works plant was dumping

390
00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,559
almost ten tons of C eight into the Ohio River

391
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:00,720
every year.

392
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,880
Speaker 2: And piling up thousands of tons of C eight sludge

393
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,400
in that landfill right next to Earle Tennant's farm.

394
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Speaker 1: The alarm bills inside the company got a lot louder.

395
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,240
In the early nineteen eighties, a study on rats finally

396
00:18:12,279 --> 00:18:17,000
confirmed that PFOA causes pesticular tumors. It was the carcinogen,

397
00:18:17,559 --> 00:18:18,119
So now.

398
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,079
Speaker 2: They know it's toxic. It bioaccumulates, it's in the environment,

399
00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,480
and it causes cancer and animals. So in nineteen eighty

400
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,400
four they test the public water supply around the factory.

401
00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:28,160
Speaker 1: And they find it C eight is in the drinking

402
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,640
water of the surrounding communities.

403
00:18:29,799 --> 00:18:32,920
Speaker 2: So the executives meet. They discussed switching to a safer

404
00:18:33,039 --> 00:18:36,519
chemical alternative, but their own meeting minutes show they concluded

405
00:18:36,559 --> 00:18:38,839
that the alternatives were not economically attractive.

406
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,519
Speaker 1: It'd cost too much, so they decided to keep using

407
00:18:41,559 --> 00:18:41,920
C eight.

408
00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,839
Speaker 2: Instead of changing the chemical, they decided to change the

409
00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,599
definition of safe. Their own scientists came up with a

410
00:18:48,759 --> 00:18:51,119
safe limit for C eight in drinking water.

411
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,440
Speaker 1: They set the number at one part per billion one ppb.

412
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,480
Speaker 2: And here's the most cynical part. At that time, one

413
00:18:58,519 --> 00:19:01,240
ppd was just about the law US level their equipment

414
00:19:01,279 --> 00:19:04,599
could reliably detect, So they basically set the safety limit

415
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:06,119
at the limit of their own technology.

416
00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:08,359
Speaker 1: If they couldn't measure it, they could claim it wasn't

417
00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:09,799
there and therefore was safe.

418
00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:11,960
Speaker 2: To give you a sense of scale, one part per

419
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,240
billion is one single drop of C eight in twenty huge,

420
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,720
twenty five hundred liters water tanks. That's what they decided

421
00:19:19,759 --> 00:19:21,519
was acceptable for people to drink every day.

422
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,079
Speaker 1: But then they tested the water coming out of the landfill,

423
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,079
the water flowing into Earl's Creek, and.

424
00:19:26,039 --> 00:19:28,799
Speaker 2: The result was sixteen hundred parts per billion.

425
00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,759
Speaker 1: One thousand six hundred times their own self determined safe limit,

426
00:19:32,839 --> 00:19:33,079
and they.

427
00:19:33,079 --> 00:19:35,119
Speaker 2: Told no one. They kept it a secret.

428
00:19:35,519 --> 00:19:38,440
Speaker 1: When Rob Billett finally found these documents, this was the

429
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,519
smoking gun. He wrote a nine hundred page letter to

430
00:19:41,559 --> 00:19:44,519
the EPA and the Justice Department laying out the whole

431
00:19:44,599 --> 00:19:45,799
decades long cover up.

432
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,759
Speaker 2: DuPont quickly settled with the tenant family for an undisclosed amount,

433
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,359
while still publicly denying any wrongdoing.

434
00:19:52,759 --> 00:19:55,400
Speaker 1: But Red knew this was bigger than one farm. This

435
00:19:55,519 --> 00:19:58,079
chemical was in the water for seventy thousand people in

436
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,960
the Parkersburg area, so he's sued DuPont again on behalf of.

437
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,079
Speaker 2: The entire community, and around the same time in the

438
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,640
year two thousand, the true scale of the problem became undeniable.

439
00:20:08,079 --> 00:20:11,480
A huge study analyzed thousands of blood samples from across

440
00:20:11,519 --> 00:20:12,039
the US.

441
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,319
Speaker 1: The result was shocking. One hundred percent of the samples

442
00:20:15,319 --> 00:20:18,839
are positive for C eight. Every single person was contaminated,

443
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,519
with an average level of about five ppb.

444
00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:23,880
Speaker 2: The question was no longer if we were exposed, the

445
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:25,920
question was what was it doing to us.

446
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: To answer that, Rob billet in the community launched one

447
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,640
of the biggest epidemiological studies in history, starting in two

448
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,480
thousand and five, they collected medical data from all seventy

449
00:20:35,559 --> 00:20:36,799
thousand people in the lawsuit.

450
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,960
Speaker 2: It took seven years to analyze all that data. Sadly,

451
00:20:40,039 --> 00:20:42,279
Earl Tenant and his wife both passed away before they

452
00:20:42,319 --> 00:20:43,279
could hear the results.

453
00:20:43,519 --> 00:20:47,200
Speaker 1: Finally, in twenty thirteen, the Independent eight Science Panel released

454
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,240
their findings and it was a bombshell.

455
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 2: They confirmed a probable link between CA exposure and six

456
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:54,960
specific human diseases.

457
00:20:55,079 --> 00:20:59,519
Speaker 1: Those six were thyroid disease, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, ul

458
00:20:59,519 --> 00:21:04,039
sort of lightis high cholesterol, and preaclancia, a dangerous complication

459
00:21:04,079 --> 00:21:04,680
in pregnancy.

460
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,599
Speaker 2: This was the proof a direct link between the single

461
00:21:07,599 --> 00:21:11,200
industrial chemical and a whole host of serious health problems

462
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:12,200
in humans.

463
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,720
Speaker 1: And they could even quantify the risk for men with

464
00:21:14,839 --> 00:21:17,640
C eight levels over thirty ppv in their blood the

465
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,039
odds of getting kidney cancer basically doubled.

466
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,599
Speaker 2: The scientific verdict was in and DuPont was forced to act.

467
00:21:23,799 --> 00:21:26,079
They agreed to phase out C eight by twenty thirteen

468
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,279
and eventually paid over six hundred million dollars in settlements,

469
00:21:29,519 --> 00:21:31,119
but they never admitted wrongdoing.

470
00:21:31,519 --> 00:21:33,839
Speaker 1: And the story doesn't end there, because as soon as

471
00:21:33,839 --> 00:21:36,240
they stopped using C eight. They just switched to something else.

472
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,039
Speaker 2: This is the whack a mole problem. DuPont spun off

473
00:21:39,039 --> 00:21:42,920
its chemical business into a new company, Himmers and Chamers

474
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,039
immediately replaced C eight with a slightly different chemical.

475
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,200
Speaker 1: They just knocked two carbons off the chain, creating a

476
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,400
shorter molecule called C six or gen X.

477
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,559
Speaker 2: And Cheemers came out with a big marketing push, claiming

478
00:21:53,599 --> 00:21:55,720
gen X was safer because it was shorter and would

479
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,920
break down more easily. They suggested a safe water limit

480
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:00,839
as high as seventy arts per billion.

481
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,759
Speaker 1: But they started making gen X at the exact same

482
00:22:03,799 --> 00:22:07,759
plant in West Virginia, and surprise, surprise, it started showing

483
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,400
up in the Ohio River and the local drinking water.

484
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,519
Speaker 2: And when scientists finally did a cancer study on gen X,

485
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:14,799
what do you think they found?

486
00:22:15,079 --> 00:22:18,240
Speaker 1: It caused the exact same three tumors in rats that

487
00:22:18,319 --> 00:22:22,160
PFOA did, liver, testicular, and pancreatic.

488
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,880
Speaker 2: And that shorter chain that was supposed to be a benefit,

489
00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:28,279
it actually made gen X more mobile in groundwater, so

490
00:22:28,319 --> 00:22:30,640
it could contaminate larger areas even faster.

491
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,119
Speaker 1: So the companies just tweak a molecule, give it a

492
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,079
new name and force regulators and scientists to start the

493
00:22:36,279 --> 00:22:39,359
entire decade long research process all over again.

494
00:22:39,519 --> 00:22:41,519
Speaker 2: It's an endless game, and that's why we have to

495
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:42,799
talk about the entire family of.

496
00:22:42,799 --> 00:22:46,079
Speaker 1: Chemicals pfaes per and polyfloral alcohol substances.

497
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:50,000
Speaker 2: It's a massive family. There are over fourteen thousand different

498
00:22:50,039 --> 00:22:52,759
man made chemicals that fall under this umbrella, and they

499
00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:54,960
all share that one defining feature, the.

500
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,640
Speaker 1: Carbon fluorine bond. That's why they're called forever chemicals.

501
00:22:58,039 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 2: Their core property is that they repel both water and oil,

502
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:04,200
which makes them incredibly useful.

503
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 1: So they're in fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, waterproof clothing, cosmetics,

504
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,200
contact lenses, the anti smudge coating on your phone screen.

505
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,119
They are literally everywhere.

506
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,279
Speaker 2: But before we get into exposure, we have to make

507
00:23:17,319 --> 00:23:21,079
one really important distinction within the PFAS family. It's something

508
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:23,359
the industry uses to create confusion.

509
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: Okay, let's break that down.

510
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 2: You can basically split them into two groups. The first

511
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,680
group is the floor polymers. This is the actual teflon

512
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,000
the PTFE itself.

513
00:23:32,039 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 1: These are the huge long chain molecules.

514
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,240
Speaker 2: Right, tens of thousands of atoms long. They're so big

515
00:23:37,279 --> 00:23:40,000
and inert. Your body can't absorb them. If a flake

516
00:23:40,039 --> 00:23:42,319
of teflon comes off your pan and you swallow it,

517
00:23:42,319 --> 00:23:46,119
it just passes right through you. They are generally considered safe.

518
00:23:45,839 --> 00:23:48,039
Speaker 1: So the finished product is not the main problem. It's

519
00:23:48,079 --> 00:23:50,480
the processing aids used to make it exactly.

520
00:23:50,759 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 2: That's the second group, the nasty ones, the perfloor al

521
00:23:54,039 --> 00:23:59,960
coal acids or PFAAs. This includes PFOA, PFOS, gen X, pfhi.

522
00:24:00,599 --> 00:24:02,519
Speaker 1: These are the short chain molecules right.

523
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 2: Only five to ten carbons long. They're small enough to

524
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:09,119
get into your bloodstream, bind to proteins and dioaccumulate. These

525
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,559
are the ones that cause the systemic health risks.

526
00:24:11,839 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 1: So what's the latest scientific consensus on how dangerous these

527
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,119
PFAAs really are.

528
00:24:17,279 --> 00:24:19,880
Speaker 2: The most definitive statement we have is from a twenty

529
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,519
twenty two report by the National Academies of Sciences. They

530
00:24:23,519 --> 00:24:25,759
looked at the data for just seven of the most

531
00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:29,359
well studied PFAAs and what did they conclude. They set

532
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,920
up three risk tiers based on the total amount of

533
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:33,359
those seven chemicals in your blood.

534
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:34,279
Speaker 1: Okay, what are the tiers?

535
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 2: Below two parts per billion is considered low risk. Between

536
00:24:38,039 --> 00:24:40,680
two and twenty ppb. They say there's a potential for

537
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,880
harmful effects and if your level is above twenty pcb,

538
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,960
the risk is significantly greater, and they recommend additional medical screening.

539
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,079
Speaker 1: And did they link them to specific health problems like

540
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:52,200
the C eight panel did.

541
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,920
Speaker 2: Yes, they found the most consistent evidence linking these chemicals

542
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,920
to high cholesterol, a decreased immine response to vaccines, kidney cancer,

543
00:25:00,039 --> 00:25:03,200
and decreased infant growth. The links are now undeniable.

544
00:25:03,519 --> 00:25:04,759
Speaker 1: This is where I want to bring in my own

545
00:25:04,799 --> 00:25:07,160
experience because I actually got my blood tested for these

546
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:08,319
chemicals earlier this.

547
00:25:08,319 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 2: Year, and the results were quite a wake up call.

548
00:25:10,599 --> 00:25:13,559
Speaker 1: For you, they really were. My PFOA level was pretty average,

549
00:25:13,599 --> 00:25:17,079
about one point five ppb, but my PFOS, the old

550
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,599
Scotch card chemical, was almost nine tpb, more than double

551
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:21,559
the US average.

552
00:25:21,599 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 2: And the PFHXSS was the really shocking one.

553
00:25:24,279 --> 00:25:28,079
Speaker 1: My PFHxS level was nearly seven ppb. That's higher than

554
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:29,839
ninety five percent of the US population.

555
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 2: And when you add them all up, your total came

556
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,119
to seventeen point nine to two.

557
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,039
Speaker 1: Ppb, just under that twenty ppb threshold where the National

558
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:41,359
Academy says the risk is greater. It was really sobering.

559
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,599
It just shows you can be living a healthy life

560
00:25:43,599 --> 00:25:45,039
and still be highly contaminated.

561
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,839
Speaker 2: It really brings home the question where is all this

562
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:48,920
exposure coming from.

563
00:25:49,039 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 1: Let's break it down into the three main sources. First,

564
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:53,440
the products themselves, and.

565
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 2: Again we should bust the myth here. The biggest risk

566
00:25:56,279 --> 00:25:58,920
isn't from using your nonstick pan at home. It's from

567
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,960
the pollution created when that pan was manufactured and when

568
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,240
it's eventually thrown away.

569
00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:04,640
Speaker 1: So the problem is the factories.

570
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 2: It's the factories. They have terrible containment records. The same

571
00:26:08,559 --> 00:26:10,759
story we saw in West Virginia is now playing out

572
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:12,799
near chemical plants all over the world.

573
00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:15,279
Speaker 1: Okay, so the second source is food.

574
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 2: Yes, but mainly the packaging. Fast food wrappers, takeout boxes,

575
00:26:20,039 --> 00:26:23,839
microwave popcorn bags are often coated with PFAAs to make

576
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:24,720
them greaseproof.

577
00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:27,799
Speaker 1: I saw a study where they found that PFAAs could

578
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,519
leach from the popcorn bag into the oils of the

579
00:26:30,519 --> 00:26:31,960
popcorn itself over time.

580
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 2: That makes sense. The good news is there's an easy fix.

581
00:26:35,839 --> 00:26:38,480
Reheat your leftovers on a real plate, not in the

582
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,480
cardboard container. Cooking at home more often dramatically reduces the

583
00:26:42,519 --> 00:26:43,440
source of exposure.

584
00:26:43,519 --> 00:26:46,000
Speaker 1: But the third and biggest source for most people is

585
00:26:46,039 --> 00:26:46,720
drinking water.

586
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,319
Speaker 2: This is the one that's hardest to avoid and it's

587
00:26:49,319 --> 00:26:53,000
where bioaccumulation really kicks in. The levels and water might

588
00:26:53,039 --> 00:26:56,039
be tiny measured in parts per trillion.

589
00:26:55,839 --> 00:26:58,400
Speaker 1: But because your body holds onto it, even those tiny

590
00:26:58,519 --> 00:27:00,759
daily doses are enough to build a to high levels

591
00:27:00,759 --> 00:27:03,559
in your blood measured in parts per billion over the years.

592
00:27:03,799 --> 00:27:06,559
Speaker 2: The hotspots for water contamination are near the factories, but

593
00:27:06,599 --> 00:27:08,440
also near military bases.

594
00:27:08,039 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: And airports because of firefighting foam exactly.

595
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 2: PFOA and pfos are key ingredients in a type of

596
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,680
high performance foam called AFFF. It's incredible at putting out

597
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:19,799
big fuel fires.

598
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,279
Speaker 1: So every time they do a training drill, all that

599
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,680
foam soaks into the ground and contaminates the groundwater for

600
00:27:25,799 --> 00:27:26,839
miles around.

601
00:27:26,759 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 2: And now it's reached planetary saturation. Scientists have found unsafe

602
00:27:30,759 --> 00:27:34,400
levels of pfas in rain water even on the Tibetan Plateau.

603
00:27:34,759 --> 00:27:37,359
The entire global water cycle is contaminated.

604
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: This really explains my own test results. The area where

605
00:27:40,519 --> 00:27:43,279
I used to live, Santa Clarita in California, has known

606
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,200
PFHxS contamination in the water around thirty seven parts.

607
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,599
Speaker 2: Per trillion, and there are online calculators that can predict

608
00:27:49,599 --> 00:27:51,759
your blood level based on your water source.

609
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: When I put in my data, the calculator predicted my

610
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,480
blood level will be six point eighty five ppb. My

611
00:27:56,559 --> 00:27:58,839
actual lab result was six point eighty four ppb.

612
00:27:59,039 --> 00:28:01,759
Speaker 2: The correlation is just chilling. It's direct proof of how

613
00:28:01,839 --> 00:28:04,599
efficiently our bodies concentrate these chemicals from our water.

614
00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:07,599
Speaker 1: This is the science that finally forced the EPA to act.

615
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,799
In April of twenty twenty four, they set the first

616
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,799
ever legally enforceable limits for pfas in US drinking water.

617
00:28:13,799 --> 00:28:17,640
Speaker 2: And the new limit for PFOA and PFOS is stunningly low.

618
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 1: They dropped it from that old one part per billion

619
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,359
down to just four parts per trillion.

620
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 2: To put that in perspective, the old limit was one

621
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,640
drop in twenty large water tanks. The new limit is

622
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,079
one drop in five thousand large water tanks. That's about

623
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:34,039
five Olympic sized swimming pools.

624
00:28:34,319 --> 00:28:37,759
Speaker 1: For comparison, the EPA limit for lead is ten thousand

625
00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:41,480
parts per trillion. For cyanide it's two hundred thousand.

626
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 2: The fact that they set the PFAS limit so incredibly

627
00:28:45,279 --> 00:28:48,359
low shows you how concerned they are about the toxicity

628
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,680
of these chemicals, even at almost undetectable levels.

629
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,079
Speaker 1: So what can people do if you're worried about your water?

630
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,200
What are the solutions?

631
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:58,519
Speaker 2: Filtrations are the most effective individual action, but not just

632
00:28:58,599 --> 00:29:01,799
any filter will work. You need one specifically certified to

633
00:29:01,839 --> 00:29:03,640
remove pfas.

634
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 1: And there are three main types that are effective.

635
00:29:04,839 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 2: Right The gold standard is a reverse osmosis system. It

636
00:29:08,519 --> 00:29:11,440
uses pressure to force water through a membrane with tiny

637
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,440
pores that the PFAS molecules are too big to get through.

638
00:29:14,599 --> 00:29:17,839
Speaker 1: Then you have granular activated carbon filters or GAC. These

639
00:29:17,839 --> 00:29:21,079
are common in picture filters. The PFAS molecules stick to

640
00:29:21,119 --> 00:29:23,720
the surface of the carbon. They work, but you have

641
00:29:23,759 --> 00:29:25,079
to change the cartridge.

642
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 2: Frequently, and the third is ion exchange. These systems use

643
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,119
a special resin that essentially swaps out the charged PFAS

644
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,400
molecules for harmless ions like chloride.

645
00:29:36,519 --> 00:29:39,519
Speaker 1: But let's put this in perspective. How should the average

646
00:29:39,559 --> 00:29:44,519
person rank the worry about pfas against other health risks.

647
00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 2: That's a great question. I think of it as a

648
00:29:46,519 --> 00:29:49,039
hierarchy the top tier. The things that will give you

649
00:29:49,079 --> 00:29:53,920
the most benefit are still the basics. Don't smoke, eat well, exercise,

650
00:29:54,039 --> 00:29:54,799
get enough sleep.

651
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: The medium tier would be managing chronic conditions, seeing your

652
00:29:58,480 --> 00:29:59,880
doctor regularly.

653
00:29:59,519 --> 00:30:02,559
Speaker 2: And d prevention would fall into a lower tier for

654
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,319
most people, but there are specific groups who should be

655
00:30:05,319 --> 00:30:05,960
more concerned.

656
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,279
Speaker 1: Who are those high risk groups?

657
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,799
Speaker 2: Pregnant people because PSAs crosses the placenta, young children because

658
00:30:11,839 --> 00:30:14,400
their bodies are developing, and people in high exposure jobs,

659
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:15,599
especially firefighters.

660
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,839
Speaker 1: Speaking of firefighters, there was a really fascinating study in

661
00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:19,720
twenty twenty.

662
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,559
Speaker 2: Two, the blood Lettings Study. It showed that firefighters who

663
00:30:22,599 --> 00:30:26,359
regularly donated blood or plasma saw their PFAS levels dropped

664
00:30:26,359 --> 00:30:28,880
by up to thirty percent in a year. It's the

665
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:30,759
first hint that there might be a way to physically

666
00:30:30,799 --> 00:30:32,960
remove these chemicals from the body, but for.

667
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,799
Speaker 1: Now there are no approved medical treatments. Prevention is the.

668
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,559
Speaker 2: Only option, which means the real solution has to be

669
00:30:39,599 --> 00:30:42,799
corporate and regulatory. We have to stop these chemicals at

670
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:43,839
the source, and.

671
00:30:43,759 --> 00:30:46,559
Speaker 1: The technology to do that is getting better. There are

672
00:30:46,599 --> 00:30:50,440
companies developing new types of filters specifically designed to capture

673
00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,960
pfas from industrial wastewater before it ever gets into the environment.

674
00:30:55,119 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 2: We probably can't ban all fourteen thousand PFAS chemicals overnight.

675
00:31:00,119 --> 00:31:05,359
Are still essential for critical uses like medical implants or semiconductor, but.

676
00:31:05,319 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: For consumer products, for packaging, for all the non essential uses,

677
00:31:09,519 --> 00:31:12,440
we need to aggressively find safer alternatives.

678
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,359
Speaker 2: We have been here before, haven't we With lead and gasoline,

679
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,440
with asbestos, with free on and the ozone layer.

680
00:31:19,799 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 1: In every case there was corporate denial and secrecy, but

681
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,559
eventually the science became undeniable, public pressure mounted and we

682
00:31:26,599 --> 00:31:27,319
made a change.

683
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,279
Speaker 2: It feels like we're finally at that turning point with pfas.

684
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:32,680
The work of people like Rob Billett and the clear

685
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,480
science from these major studies has really shifted the conversation.

686
00:31:36,359 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: And consumer awareness is a huge driver. When people understand

687
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,799
the risk, they demand safer products, they demand clean water,

688
00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:45,640
and companies are forced to listen.

689
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,759
Speaker 2: We started this story with a search for a safe

690
00:31:48,839 --> 00:31:52,519
chemical that accidentally led us down this incredibly dangerous path.

691
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,599
We now know that nearly every person on this planet

692
00:31:55,759 --> 00:31:56,680
is contaminated.

693
00:31:57,079 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 1: So we want to leave you with a question to ponder.

694
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,319
Given that these chemicals are here to stay for a

695
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,799
very long time and knowing the science behind how they

696
00:32:03,839 --> 00:32:06,559
build up in our bodies from our environment. What small

697
00:32:06,559 --> 00:32:09,240
steps do you feel are most critical, What should we

698
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,880
demand from manufacturers or what can we implement in our

699
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,680
own lives to manage this enduring chemical legacy.