![]() They have been called “forever chemicals” because they resist natural processes of degradation, some never fully breaking down. The remarkable properties of PFAS chemicals make them uniquely troublesome from an environmental health perspective. They are also a key ingredient in specialized firefighting foams known as aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF). ![]() ![]() A dizzying array of products derive their ability to repel oil and water from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are known as “PFAS.” First invented in the World War II era and encompassing thousands of variants developed throughout the decades since, these chemicals are found in nonstick cookware, waterproof and stain-resistant textiles, food packaging, medical devices, and even personal care products. We ground our review in our ongoing multisited ethnographic research on the PFAS exposure experience.Ī class of several thousand synthetic chemicals, simultaneously a legacy pollutant and an emergent contaminant, is drawing increasing attention as one of the most vexing environmental health challenges of the twenty-first century. We offer the concept of the “toxic event” as a way to make sense of the contexts and conditions by which otherwise invisible pollution/toxicity turns into public, mass-mediated, and political episodes. We argue that PFAS exposure experiences, perceptions, and responses move dynamically through a “toxicity continuum” spanning invisibility, suffering, resignation, and refusal. Lastly, we highlight how people mobilize collectively, or become demobilized, in response to PFAS pollution/toxicity. This article examines the social life of PFAS contamination (a class of several thousand synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and maps the growing research in the social sciences on the unique conundrums and complex travels of the “forever chemical.” We explore social, political, and cultural dimensions of PFAS toxicity, especially how PFAS move from unseen sites into individual bodies and into the public eye in late industrial contexts how toxicity is comprehended, experienced, and imagined the factors shaping regulatory action and ignorance and how PFAS have been the subject of competing forms of knowledge production. ![]()
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