Whoever said this country can't come together about anything anymore in the year of our Lord twenty twenty-six was wrong because PFAS, or forever chemicals, are in the blood of ninety-seven percent of Americans right now.

They're in our water, our cookware, our food packaging, children, pets. The companies that made them knew they were toxic as early as the 1960s, and the federal government is trying to roll back the drinking water protections we've had for them for about a year, but they're not even in effect yet.

But here's the thing: people are fighting back. Awareness is growing. Communities that were poisoned are building a national coalition right from their kitchen tables. Scientists are literally breaking apart molecules that were designed to last forever, and states are stepping in where the feds will not.

So what can I do about a chemical contamination that's already inside me?

My guest today is Rachel Frazin. Rachel is an energy and environmental reporter at The Hill and co-author of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America, a new book built on years of original on-the-ground reporting in four contaminated communities across Alabama, Colorado, North Carolina, and Maine.

We're gonna talk about what PFAS are and how they got into virtually all of us, what the companies and the military knew and when they knew it, where regulation stands right now, and what you can actually do to protect your family and to join the people who are demanding that this gets fixed for us and our kids and for later generations.

-----------

Have feedback? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

Find every action recommended in The Most Important Question here: www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
Exposure by Rob Bilott
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Read Rachel's book Poisoning The Well
Follow Rachel's reporting at The Hill
Find the Best Reverse Osmosis System for your home
Find the best Water Filter Pitchers for PFAS
Compare PFAS Water Filter Options
Use EWG's tool to find our What's In Your Tap Water

Follow us:

Subscribe to our newsletters at importantnotimportant.com
Join us at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch!
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors