articles like these always sort of stun me. it always comes out that like thousands of employees knew the risks and ramifications of their company's products in like 1950 and nobody said anything to the press or to the government or anything until it was too late. i can't fathom it. imagine knowing without a doubt that your company was essentially poisoning people and the environment and not saying a word because what, you collect a paycheck from them? why were the generations before us so fucking gutless? is it still like this today?

I think it's still definitely like this today. Like, fuck, Instagram alone could fill solemn tomes of the nightmares of generational fallout

:(

In subsequent weeks, Hansen and her team ordered fresh blood samples from every supplier that 3M worked with. Each of the samples tested positive for PFOS.

It's common knowledge by now, but imagine how horrifying it must be to be the first person to know that all of humanity (and later, every animal blood sample as well) appears to be contaminated by industrial chemicals.

The only blood samples without PFOS chemicals were from ones before 3M created PFOS.

Shortly after learning these results, her boss took an early retirement.

Whe she didn't know was that 3M already knew the PFOS were harmful.

Starting at the second-lowest dose that the scientists tested, about 10 milligrams for every kilogram of body weight, the rats showed signs of possible harm to their livers, and half of them died. At higher doses, every rat died.

Man.

I'm halfway through the article but this is a doozy. I knew everything was bad, but it's even worse than I thought.

When this article was posted on orangesite, someone shared an anecdote that I (through connection to 3M employees) had heard as well. (iirc it's also backed by stats, but i have no more time to post)

Related anecdote: I know someone who used to work in Oakdale, Minnesota, a town that 3M literally used as a PFAS dumping ground. I'm not saying it's normal for a kid to die of cancer at the local high school, I'm just saying it happens more often there than anywhere else I've ever heard of.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M_Contamination_of_Minnesota_Groundwater