A scientist’s struggle to find the truth behind 3M’s “forever chemicals” problem
Marketplace Tech
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2024
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
Sharon Lerner has been reporting on “forever chemicals” for the better part of a decade. These manmade compounds — known as PFAS for short — resist oil, water and heat, take an incredibly long time to break down in nature, and have been used widely in products like Scotchgard, Teflon and firefighting foam. Lerner has focused part of her work on understanding the flow of information inside manufacturers like 3M. By the 1970s, Lerner says, Minnesota-based 3M had established that they were toxic in animals and were accumulating in humans’ bodies. But who inside 3M knew? And what did they know? Reporting for ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news site, Lerner got a complicated answer after coming across a former 3M scientist named Kris Hansen. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Lerner about her recent investigation.
Transcript
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| 1:09.0 | Today, some backstory on a toxic class of chemicals. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. |
| 1:12.0 | I'm Lily Dromali. Sharon Lerner has been reporting on man-made forever chemicals for the better part of a decade. |
| 1:28.0 | She's focused part of her work on understanding the flow of information inside of manufacturers like 3M. 3M has produced Forever Chemicals |
| 1:36.7 | or P Fast for decades now. |
| 1:39.2 | They resist oil, water, and heat and are found in all kinds of products from Teflon to |
| 1:44.3 | firefighting foam. Forever chemicals also take an incredibly long time to |
| 1:49.5 | break down in nature. Lerner says by the 1970s 3M had established they were toxic in animals and were accumulating |
| 1:57.5 | in humans. |
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