This Essay was posted on 8/28/2025.
The book They Poisoned the World by Mariah Blake tells an important story about how the US chemical industry created toxic ‘forever chemicals’ and then tried to hide it from the public. It also tells the story of how 3 activists were impacted by the toxic chemicals and how they helped expose the danger and force changes in the chemical industry.
The forever chemical problem started when the chemical giant, DuPont accidentally discovered Teflon. While Teflon is considered mostly safe, the chemicals used in making Teflon are toxic and don’t go away easily. They turned the areas around the manufacturing plants into hazardous waste dumps, polluting the land and the drinking water. As a result, the local citizens contracted deadly cancers at alarming rates.
The key players in this story are DuPont, 3M, Saint-Gobain, and Honeywell, but the focus is on DuPont. Teflon became an essential product in the development of the nuclear bomb in World War II and Dupont also found many commercial uses. The product was a big money-maker for DuPont, so they tried to hide the dangers of forever chemicals for years. The dangerous fluorocarbons were replaced in 2009, and the final settlements were made in 2021-2025. Now, forever chemicals can be found just about anywhere in the world.
Why did it take so long? The companies placed profits over public safety and they got cooperation from local, state, and federal governments. In the end, this episode makes DuPont’s famous tagline, “Better things for better living … through chemistry” seem like a hollow promise.
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