In 2023, it’s hard to get away from breaking news about PFAS, a class of more than 12,000 chemicals used in countless products from nonstick pans to cosmetics to food packaging. The chemicals have been linked to a host of physical ills, including increased risk of certain cancers, high cholesterol, hormonal disruption, immune system problems, decreased fertility, and developmental delays in children. PFAS, first developed in the 1940s, weren’t always so well known by people outside of the industries manufacturing them. But a new study published in Annals of Global Health reveals just how much and how early the two biggest manufacturers of the chemicals—3M and DuPont—knew about the potential harms the products posed. The tactics the companies used to cover up this information—suppressing unfavorable research, distorting public disclosure of research that did leak out, withholding information from employees who might have been exposed to dangerous levels of PFAS—are reminiscent of those used by the tobacco and fossil fuel industries. Here are some of the most striking tactics the PFAS-makers used that I came across while reporting this story: - A 1961 DuPont study found that exposure to PFAS-based Teflon led to liver enlargement in rats, with the in-house scientist recommending that “contact with the skin should be strictly avoided.” No warning was issued to the public.
- In 1970, researchers at a DuPont plant found that PFOA and PFOS—the two most common and notorious PFAS—could be “highly toxic when inhaled and moderately toxic when ingested.” The public was not alerted to this either.
- In 2002, when the dangers of PFAS were becoming widely known, a DuPont vice president emailed an Environmental Protection Agency official, writing: “Urgent: EPA action needed. We need the EPA to quickly (like first thing tomorrow) say the following…Consumer products sold under the Teflon brand are safe [and] there are no human health effects known to be caused by PFOA.” The EPA did not accommodate the company’s request.
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