The biggest chemical cover up in history. PFAS has polluted the entire global water system. Now, potentially dangerous forever chemicals are being found in the entire US population. Go to https://groundnews.com/Ve to get all sides of every story. Subscribe to save 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan through our link.
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0:00 Killed by Fridges
5:27 Teflon and The Manhattan Project
7:59 Teflon is Tricky
11:37 The Teflon Revolution
13:27 Earl Tennant's Farm
17:34 Inside DuPont
20:28 Fluoride In Drinking Water
25:00 It's bigger than that
29:23 What is PFAS?
35:56 How much PFAS is in Derek’s blood?
37:56 How forever chemicals get into your blood
46:18 Removing PFAS from drinking water
49:30 Can you lower your PFAS levels?
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A huge thank you to Rob Bilott for his time and expertise. Check out his fantastic book: Bilott, R. (2019). Exposure. Simon and Schuster - https://ve42.co/7R
Rob's story also inspired the 2019 film: Dark Waters.
Thank you to Doctor Mike for giving us a medical perspective on PFAS! Check him out at @DoctorMike
Thank you to Henrik Haggeman and the Puraffinity team, as well as Andrew Patterson and Eurofins, for doing the PFAS testing.
Thank you to Leslie Hamilton, Johns Hopkins APL, Alex Conrad, Imperial College London, Jana Avgustini, and Matija Krvavica for their help on the project.
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PFAS Tools:
PFAS Blood Test - https://ve42.co/PFASTest
What's My Exposure? via www-pfas.pfas-exchange.org - https://ve42.co/myexposure
Serum PFAS Calculator via ics.uci.edu - https://ve42.co/pfascalculator
Interactive Map: PFAS Contamination Crisis via www.ewg.org - https://ve42.co/pfasmapinteractive
The Map of Forever Pollution via foreverpollution.eu - https://ve42.co/foreverpollutionmap
Australian PFAS Chemicals Map via pfas.australianmap.net - https://ve42.co/australianpfasmap
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References:
References can be found here - https://ve42.co/PFASReferences
Images & Video:
Image and video references can be found here - https://ve42.co/PFASVisuals
3D Models:
"Low Poly Base Mesh-530 Tri" (https://skfb.ly/onsxE) by Huge_Man
"Blood Vessel" (https://skfb.ly/owHJX) by IMU University
“Generic Factory” (https://skfb.ly/onQpR) by assetfactory
"Lowpoly People + Waldo" (https://skfb.ly/6zqCE) by Loïc Norgeot
PFOA Molecule via PubChem - https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Perfluorooctanoic-acid
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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, iRick, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, Keith England, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Samuel White, TTST, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, wolfee
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Writers: Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller
Producer & Director: Gregor Čavlović
Editors: Peter Nelson & Jack Saxon
Camera Operators: Tas Underwood, Emilia Gyles, Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller
Animators: Andrew Neet, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli
Illustrators: Caine Esperanza, Jakub Misiek & Maria Gusakovich
Assistant Editor: James Stuart
Additional Editor: James Horsley
Researchers: Geeta Thakur, Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong & Emilia Gyles
Thumbnail Designers: Ren Hurley & Ben Powell
Production Team: Rob Beasley Spence, Tori Brittain, Casper Mebius, Sulli Yost & Matthew Cavanagh
Executive Producers: Derek Muller & Zoe Heron
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5.
Music from Epidemic Sound
📝 Transcript
Transcribing... This may take a few minutes.
Top Comments
@veritasium
Go to https://groundnews.com/Ve to see through media misconceptions and get all sides of every story. Subscribe to save 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan access through our link.
4902 likes
@SilhouetteLifter
"Hey you know that time Dupont created a chemical that poisoned the entire earth and killed millions?"
"No not that time"
"No not that one either"
"Nope not that time also"
36112 likes
@0izhii
grandparents being filled with asbestos, parents filled with lead, me filled with microplastics. all filled with c8
12712 likes
@Qsie
The fact that disclaimer is even needed at the start speaks volumes about DuPont and 3M.
54608 likes
@nabilarahmani2972
LITERALLY THE BEST INFORMATION I COULD LEARN IN 2026!! *better late than never!*
69 likes
@piktasniekas8124
The general policy for everything new should be "contained until proven safe", not "dumped freely until proven unsafe".
5993 likes
@robertberatheon4213
Zero accountability for corporate US.
38308 likes
@jdmogel
Sweet, a 1 hour Veritasium video!
*grabs popcorn*
halfway in:
*spits out popcorn*
42945 likes
@cloustron
By far one of the best videos I've ever watched in my entire life.
27 likes
@bodsaru
when a video starts off with "for legal reasons" you know its going to be a banger
49548 likes
@FRISHR
The Unholy Trinity of Companies:
1. Nestlé
2. DuPont
3. Shell
42195 likes
@ck1011Original
"Oops" - The last surviving human, holding all the money
1562 likes
@PawsPistons
In the early 90’s I was spraying Teflon. By late 90’s I was with another company spraying 3m scotchguard. I’m doomed. lol. 😂
5 likes
@sdillon4605
From 1999-2003 I worked for a furniture store and sprayed hundreds of furniture units per week with Scotchgard from 3M containing PFAS forever chemicals, some people also occasionally sprayed co-workers with the chemical as a joke I was sprayed dozens of times with the chemical. In 2002 we were told that our company was discontinuing use of scotchgard and switching to stainsafe brand spray, we were like - "wait this stuff isn't safe?!" In 2006 I was 27 years old and diagnosed with IGA nephopathy the doctors never could figure out why my kidney's were failing at such a young age. In 2007 I had to start dialysis and in 2009 I received a kidney transplant and I am doing good now. I wonder if PFAS caused my kidney failure. UPDATE: I'm shocked at how much attention this comment got! Just want to clarify a couple things. We were told the spray was "just like a glue mist" and safe if it got on us. we were given no PPE, and the spray area was not in a well ventilated area, also the pump sprayer would frequently clog and hoses would spring leaks which would spray us with the chemical- again management told us it was safe when we questioned it. We did question it from time to time and our employer did have a OSHA materials handling book, I cannot remember exactly what it said about the scotchgard chemical- being this was over 20 years ago. I myself never sprayed anyone with it, but because we were told it was safe beyond telling people to stop it I didn't think it was extremely dangerous - it was 1999. My old employer went out of business in 2015 so I don't think I would have any recourse there. I'm not really lookin for recourse at this point. I am going to talk to my doctor and have a toxicology work up done. I did some more research after watching this and found a 2022 National Institutes of Health study that found PFAS in blood plasma associated with higher rates of IgA nephropathy and other glomerular diseases. Being that I had no family history of autoimmune or kidney disease, and that I had heavy, unprotected exposure to Scotchgard chemicals containing PFOS/PFOA during a critical 3–4 year period, before the chemical was pulled from the market in 2002 due to toxicity concerns, I am leaning towards it being highly likely that this was the cause of my end-stage renal disease which was diagnosed within 3 years. I am looking forward to doing the toxicology blood work. At least I have an idea what most likely caused my kidney failure, for decades I did not know. Thanks Veritasium for putting this information out there.
61855 likes
@Hobbes303
As an environmental engineer currently designing and implementing systems to remove PFAS from our water sources, I truly thank you for bringing awareness to this issue. I have sent this to all my family and friends and suggest others do the same. If we cannot trust chemical corporations to manufacture their products responsibly, or trust our regulators to protect the nation's health, it falls to us, collectively, to demand change.