PFAS and The Bomb
Inextricably linked existential threats to humanity.
Inextricably linked existential threats to humanity.
Trinity - July 16, 1945 - Made possible through the discovery and development of PFAS chemicals.
17th-century depiction of Daedalus & Icarus – Musee Antoine Vivenel, Compiègne, France
In Greek mythology, the tale of Daedalus and his son, Icarus provides a lesson that humanity has never learned. Daedalus created wings from feathers and wax. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun for fear that the wax would melt. Icarus took off, exhilarated with the invention, and soared exuberantly toward the sun. His wings fell apart, and Icarus fell to his death.
Remarkable technologies may escape our control and imperil mankind.
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Pat Elder - PFAS & The Bomb
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Two astonishing inventions in 1938 are like Daedalus’ fastening of wings to wax: the splitting of the uranium atom by German scientists - and the discovery of per and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by Dupont chemists in New Jersey. Its not a stretch. Both nuclear weaponry and PFAS chemicals are existential threats to humanity. Their development and use are inextricably linked. |
Trinity - July 16, 1945
PFAS was developed through the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and his crew needed a way to separate uranium to make the bomb. They used fluorine gas for this purpose. The scientists soon discovered that fluorine gas bonds with carbon molecules to make fluorochemicals, the most highly resistant coolants known - and a critical development leading to Trinity.
The Manhattan Project perfected a white powder that could extinguish fires better than any substance ever created. It repels grease, dirt, and water better than anything. PFAS never breaks down. It never goes away. It is bio accumulative, and it is linked to many cancers. Most alarmingly, it plays havoc on a woman’s reproductive system. It contributes to a host of childhood diseases. It threatens our immune system and it has been linked to the spread of COVID 19. It’s in all of our bodies and all American children are born with it.
It was used to manufacture Teflon products and Scotchguard, and waterproofing for a thousand products. It is still used widely.
The Manhattan Project perfected a white powder that could extinguish fires better than any substance ever created. It repels grease, dirt, and water better than anything. PFAS never breaks down. It never goes away. It is bio accumulative, and it is linked to many cancers. Most alarmingly, it plays havoc on a woman’s reproductive system. It contributes to a host of childhood diseases. It threatens our immune system and it has been linked to the spread of COVID 19. It’s in all of our bodies and all American children are born with it.
It was used to manufacture Teflon products and Scotchguard, and waterproofing for a thousand products. It is still used widely.
Since the 1960’s the military has used PFAS in firefighting foam to extinguish super-hot petroleum-based fires. They used it in thousands of training exercises. Typically, they’d dig a 100-foot diameter crater about one to two feet deep, fill it with jet fuel and ignite it. Then vulnerable firefighters would cover the flames with the foam. The carcinogens were allowed to seep into groundwater and surface water. Our drinking water sources are contaminated, as well as the animals and sea food we consume.
Wurtsmuth Air Force in Michigan base closed 30 years ago but the people in the region can not eat fish from local waters or eat wildlife because it is deemed to be poisonous.
Try to wrap your head around the concept of a highly toxic chemical - comprised of an indestructible fluorine-carbon bond that never breaks down in our bodies and the environment - and continually accumulates.
Although millions are ingesting the substances in their drinking water, Most of the PFAS in our bodies comes from eating contaminated seafood, oysters, crabs and fish that are loaded with the stuff. Meanwhile, the EPA is criminally negligent.
Wherever there are nuclear weapons, PFAS is on hand. Nuclear-powered ships and those carrying nuclear weapons also carry huge quantities of the materials and after training exercises, mop the chemicals into the sea.
We can’t get rid of it.
We can’t incinerate it without poisoning people.
We don’t know what to do with it.
Wurtsmuth Air Force in Michigan base closed 30 years ago but the people in the region can not eat fish from local waters or eat wildlife because it is deemed to be poisonous.
Try to wrap your head around the concept of a highly toxic chemical - comprised of an indestructible fluorine-carbon bond that never breaks down in our bodies and the environment - and continually accumulates.
Although millions are ingesting the substances in their drinking water, Most of the PFAS in our bodies comes from eating contaminated seafood, oysters, crabs and fish that are loaded with the stuff. Meanwhile, the EPA is criminally negligent.
Wherever there are nuclear weapons, PFAS is on hand. Nuclear-powered ships and those carrying nuclear weapons also carry huge quantities of the materials and after training exercises, mop the chemicals into the sea.
We can’t get rid of it.
We can’t incinerate it without poisoning people.
We don’t know what to do with it.
PFAS are the demons let loose from Pandora’s box. All 5,000 PFAS substances are believed to be toxic while the EPA refuses to regulate it. If they did, the Pentagon would be forced to clean up the mess they’ve made at a cost that could exceed a hundred billion dollars.
Rachel Carson is a latter-day prophet
I’ll end with a quote from Rachel Carson in her amazing book, Silent Spring, 1962:
“If we are going to live so intimately with these chemicals, eating and drinking them, taking them into the very marrow of our bones – we had better know something about their nature and their power.”
