There is a category of synthetic compounds that has been used in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s. They are found in non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging, firefighting foam, and countless other applications. They are exceptionally stable, resistant to heat, water, oil, and most chemical processes. They do not break down in the environment. They accumulate in living tissue.
They are called PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. There are around 12,000 of them. The informal name for the category is forever chemicals.
They are in the blood of virtually every person on earth.
What PFAS Actually Are
PFAS are a family of synthetic chemicals built around chains of carbon and fluorine atoms. The carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest in chemistry, which is why PFAS are so useful in industrial applications and why they are so persistent in the environment. Nothing that occurs naturally breaks that bond efficiently.
They were first synthesised in the 1930s and began to see widespread industrial use in the 1940s and 1950s. The non stick coating on a frying pan. The water resistance treatment on a jacket. The grease resistant lining of a fast food container. The foam used to suppress fuel fires at airports and military installations.
The companies that developed and manufactured these compounds knew about their persistence and their tendency to accumulate in living tissue from an early stage. Internal documents from 3M and DuPont, released through litigation, show awareness of these properties from the 1950s and 1960s. The compounds continued to be produced and used at increasing scale for decades.
Where They End Up
PFAS contamination is now essentially ubiquitous. They have been detected in rainwater in every region of the world tested, including remote areas of Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau, at levels that exceed the health guideline values set by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
They accumulate in the food chain. Fish in contaminated waterways carry PFAS in their tissue. Animals that eat those fish carry higher concentrations. The pattern is familiar from other persistent organic pollutants: each step up the food chain concentrates the compounds further.
In humans, PFAS accumulate in blood and organs. A 2023 study estimated that virtually 100 per cent of people in developed countries have detectable PFAS in their blood. The health effects associated with PFAS exposure include increased risk of certain cancers, thyroid disruption, immune suppression, reproductive effects, and developmental impacts in children.
The epidemiological evidence is sufficient for regulatory action in several countries and is still being assembled in others. The compounds are, in every meaningful sense, still arriving.
The Fashion Industry Connection
Waterproof and water resistant treatments applied to outdoor and performance clothing are a significant source of PFAS in the consumer market. The durable water repellent finish applied to waterproof jackets, hiking trousers, and outdoor gear has historically relied on PFAS chemistry because of its effectiveness and durability.
The outdoor industry has been working to move away from PFAS treatments since around 2015, when several major brands committed to phasing out the most problematic compounds. Progress has been uneven. Some brands have made the transition to PFAS free alternatives. Others have moved from the most regulated PFAS compounds to less regulated ones within the same family.
The EU is working on a broad restriction of the entire PFAS category, rather than regulating individual compounds. This approach addresses the pattern of substituting one PFAS for another less regulated alternative, which has characterised much of the industry’s response to individual compound restrictions.
The Precautionary Principle
The PFAS story is, among other things, a story about what happens when the precautionary principle is not applied.
The persistence and bioaccumulation properties of PFAS were known before they became ubiquitous. The decision to use them widely was made on the basis that the benefits were clear and immediate while the costs were uncertain and diffuse. The costs are now arriving, distributed across every person on earth, concentrated in communities near manufacturing sites and contaminated waterways, and still accumulating.
This pattern, benefits captured privately and immediately, costs distributed publicly and over time, is not unique to PFAS. It is the common structure of most environmental contamination. The precautionary principle exists precisely because this pattern is so consistent and so difficult to reverse once it is established.
Avoiding synthetic chemical treatments on clothing is one small way of reducing personal exposure and declining to contribute to demand for products that generate these costs. It is not a solution to a problem of this scale. It is a choice about what you are willing to put against your skin and what you are willing to pay for.
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