Read the full article by Michael J. Coren (Washington Post).
“When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out to climb Everest in 1953, wool, down and cotton kept them alive in temperatures 30 degrees below zero. Synthetic fibers played only a supporting role as the pair ascended more than five miles above sea level, about the same altitude as modern jets.
By the 1980s, the roles had reversed: Synthetic materials are now the preferred way for people to stay warm and dry, from the streets of New York to the Antarctic ice sheet. Many are fashioned from PFAS, also known as ‘forever chemicals.’
But what makes these materials so durable — carbon-fluorine bonds, among the strongest in organic chemistry — also makes them dangerous.
PFAS, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, don’t break down easily and can build up in our bodies and in the environment over decades. They’re in drinking water serving nearly half the nation and in the blood of 97 percent of Americans. Traces of PFAS can now be found from Antarctic ice to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.”…