Veritasium

May 14, 2025

The biggest chemical cover up in history. PFAS has polluted the entire global water system. Now, potentially dangerous forever chemicals are being found in the entire US population. Go to https://groundnews.com/Ve to get all sides of every story. Subscribe to save 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan through our link.

If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically - https://ve42.co/SnatomsV

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0:00 Killed by Fridges

5:27 Teflon and The Manhattan Project

7:59 Teflon is Tricky

11:37 The Teflon Revolution

13:27 Earl Tennant's Farm

17:34 Inside DuPont

20:28 Fluoride In Drinking Water

25:00 It's bigger than that

29:23 What is PFAS?

35:56 How much PFAS is in Derek’s blood?

37:56 How forever chemicals get into your blood

46:18 Removing PFAS from drinking water

49:30 Can you lower your PFAS levels?

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A huge thank you to Rob Bilott for his time and expertise. Check out his fantastic book: Bilott, R. (2019). Exposure. Simon and Schuster - https://ve42.co/7R

Rob's story also inspired the 2019 film: Dark Waters.

Thank you to Doctor Mike for giving us a medical perspective on PFAS! Check him out at ‪@DoctorMike‬

Thank you to Henrik Haggeman and the Puraffinity team, as well as Andrew Patterson and Eurofins, for doing the PFAS testing.

Thank you to Leslie Hamilton, Johns Hopkins APL, Alex Conrad, Imperial College London, Jana Avgustini, and Matija Krvavica for their help on the project.

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PFAS Tools:

PFAS Blood Test - https://ve42.co/PFASTest

What's My Exposure? via www-pfas.pfas-exchange.org - https://ve42.co/myexposure

Serum PFAS Calculator via ics.uci.edu - https://ve42.co/pfascalculator

Interactive Map: PFAS Contamination Crisis via www.ewg.org - https://ve42.co/pfasmapinteractive

The Map of Forever Pollution via foreverpollution.eu - https://ve42.co/foreverpollutionmap

Australian PFAS Chemicals Map via pfas.australianmap.net - https://ve42.co/australianpfasmap

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References:

References can be found here - https://ve42.co/PFASReferences

Images & Video:

Image and video references can be found here - https://ve42.co/PFASVisuals

3D Models:

"Low Poly Base Mesh-530 Tri" (https://skfb.ly/onsxE) by Huge_Man

"Blood Vessel" (https://skfb.ly/owHJX) by IMU University

“Generic Factory” (https://skfb.ly/onQpR) by assetfactory

"Lowpoly People + Waldo" (https://skfb.ly/6zqCE) by Loïc Norgeot

PFOA Molecule via PubChem - https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/comp...

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:

Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, iRick, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, Keith England, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Samuel White, TTST, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, wolfee

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Writers: Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller

Producer & Director: Gregor Čavlović

Editors: Peter Nelson & Jack Saxon

Camera Operators: Tas Underwood, Emilia Gyles, Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller

Animators: Andrew Neet, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli

Illustrators: Caine Esperanza, Jakub Misiek & Maria Gusakovich

Assistant Editor: James Stuart

Additional Editor: James Horsley

Researchers: Geeta Thakur, Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong & Emilia Gyles

Thumbnail Designers: Ren Hurley & Ben Powell

Production Team: Rob Beasley Spence, Tori Brittain, Casper Mebius & Sulli Yost

Executive Producers: Derek Muller & Zoe Heron

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5.

Music from Epidemic Sound