Forever Chemicals
By: Sneha Gummadi
Forever chemicals are chemicals that have long half-lives, meaning that take many years or decades to break down in the natural environment. These chemicals are synthetic, meaning that they are made in factories and laboratories by humans. The moment they are introduced to environments, they do not leave quickly and cause harm in the process to animals, including humans. They contaminate the environment and are taken up by a large variety of organisms. The two most discussed forever chemicals are PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid/C8) and PFOS (Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid).
 |
| Forever Chemicals washing up on land |
These two specific forever chemicals were introduced to the environment during the world wars as by products of weapons. Chemical companies found that these chemicals were perfect for certain kitchen products: nonstick pans. These nonstick pans were made with teflon and the waste from creating teflon were PFOAs and PFOS. DuPont was the main producers of teflon and was dominating the market with this product. They made billions of dollars off of nonstick pans. DuPont would dump these chemicals in water or fill barrels and bury them underground. The chemicals were then exposed to life.
 |
| Farm where forever chemicals killed many cows. |
People that got there water from these bodies of water would be drinking contaminated water unknowingly. It leeched into streams that farm animals would drink from. Cows would die with organs that were colored unnaturally. People were getting cancers, fetus development was severely affected, and several other painful diseases. DuPont knew this while they were dumping these chemicals; they had conducted their studies add come to the conclusion that PFOAs and PFOs were extremely dangerous. This was well before they were exposed lawyer Rob Bilott (I have linked the article to the whole story below. It is definitely worth reading for more information).
 |
| Bucky Bailey (mother was exposed to forever chemicals in DuPont while pregnant with him). |
The EPA says that is still does not know all the possible diseases that these forever chemicals can cause. But there is enough evidence that we should not be ingesting these chemicals. So far the EPA has establish a level of 70 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, but this standard is not regulated well across our country. While people are fighting to get rid of some forever chemicals, companies are coming out with newer synthetic chemicals at a rate faster than we can understand them. The best way we can protect ourselves from further exposure of is to only drink was that has been through activated carbon or high pressure membrane, such as referees osmosis. Boiling water will not get the forever chemicals out. Our public water system now has the facilities to remove forever chemicals. Also we can protect ourselves by buying meat that is well regulated areas. While it might seem that we are still well protected from these chemicals today, we are not. Many court cases continue against forever chemicals even though many studies are coming out showing the negative impacts of forever chemicals. The only way we can show support for these cases and our health is to show companies and our government that we will not buy products that will harm us and the environment.
Questions:
1. Have you ever heard of forever chemicals or their impact before?
2. How do you think the production of forever chemicals can be tackled by the government?
3. How big of problem do you see this as?
Links:
New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html
The movie Dark Waters summarizes this whole article.
EPA: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/drinking-water-health-advisories-pfoa-and-pfos
