It is an industrial irony that nonstick pans, marketed as impervious to any compound that may linger on them, are themselves producing chemicals that stick around forever in the bloodstreams of animals.
Formally, these substances are known as PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; and they are known as forever chemicals because, under normal environmental conditions, they never break down. Try as you might, it is near-impossible to escape them because PFAS are used in hundreds of commonly-used products. They are linked to health conditions from high-blood pressure to liver disease, and have raised enough public alarm that last year Congress began to take small steps toward addressing the problem.
