In the mid-1990s I worked as an engineer in a company that used a lot of fluorine-containing compounds to make garments that would resist both water-based and alcohol-based strikethrough. Most of these compounds were made by 3M and du Pont. Think ScotchGard and the like, but for industrial applications instead. Both companies were under pressure from the EPA to show that coated garments (ours were for surgical suite wear, but these also included children’s wear products) did not cause the wearer to uptake PFOAs.
3M set up an experiment where they had shaved rabbits wear garments that were coated and not-coated for control, and drew blood samples routinely to determine levels of PFOAs.
Both sets of rabbits exhibited considerable, and nearly identical, levels of PFOA in their blood.
Then they tested the rabbit chow. Bingo.
This stuff is everywhere, inescapable. If it’s dangerous, we’re screwed.
