Forever Chemicals: Ground Zero

People & Power

Pervasive, persistent and poisonous: How one US company helped pollute the world with forever chemicals.

When scientists discovered a new class of chemicals in the 1940s, they knew they had struck gold. Polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are nearly indestructible – resistant to heat, cold, oil and water. They’ve been used in everything from cookware to cosmetics and from pizza boxes to pesticides. But they also don’t biodegrade in the environment, and some of them are toxic. US corporate giant 3M was the first to mass-manufacture PFAS and allowed them to pollute the environment around its facilities for decades despite being aware of their harmful effects.