A new class of 'forever chemicals' is an emerging threat to our health and environment

Originally published on October 10, 2020.

In part one of a three part radio documentary series, Quirks & Quarks producer Sonya Buyting looks at emerging concerns about a huge class of chemicals used in everything from fast food packaging, to textile treatments, to non-stick cookware, to firefighting foams.

These per and poly fluorinated alkyl substances, known as PFAS chemicals, don't easily break down in the environment, accumulate in both human and wildlife tissues, and have spread to almost every corner of our planet.

More and more, it's looking like PFAS chemicals may be having subtle, yet toxic effects on human health, increasing our risk of developing cancer, metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes and may even hamper our immune system making vaccines less effective and people more susceptible to COVID-19.

In part one of this series we hear from:

• Linda Birnbaum, recently retired director of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program
• Philippe Grandjean, from Harvard University and the University of Southern Denmark

In part two of the documentary series, we'll explore where these chemicals are in Canada and how they got here. 

And in part three, we'll look into what we know about how PFAS chemicals could be affecting our health and how we assess what's safe.

Produced and written by Sonya Buyting