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Salon
Salon
Science
A. Daniel Jones

How to destroy a forever chemical

Michigan State University
(Getty/Totojang)

PFAS chemicals seemed like a good idea at first. As Teflon, they made pots easier to clean starting in the 1940s. They made jackets waterproof and carpets stain-resistant. Food wrappers, firefighting foam, even makeup seemed better with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Then tests started detecting PFAS in people's blood.

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