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This is Lindsay Smith Rogers.

Manmade compounds called PIFAS, or more commonly, forever chemicals, are pervasive.

They're in the air, they're in our drinking water, they're even in the fabric of our clothes.

Even though most production has been banned, they continue to contribute to a host of medical concerns.

Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Ned Collange, author of a new National Academy's report on what we can do to protect ourselves going forward.

Let's listen.

Ned Calange, thanks so much for joining me.

Well, it's my pleasure.

So today we're going to talk about PFAS.

Before we talk about PFAS, I want to know what PFAS is.

I know it's been talked about as forever chemicals, but what more can you tell me?

Well, PFS stands for per and peri-fural alcohol substances, which is a long phrase for a group of chemicals that are characterized by a bond between carbon atoms and fluoride atoms.

And it's that bond that's really very strong that makes these chemicals last a long time in the environment and a long time in the human body.

So these are man-made chemicals?

None of these occur naturally. That's correct.

These are all man-made.

And their pervasiveness, as you write in a recent report, is alarming.

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