They poisoned the world Life and death in the age of forever chemicals

This troubling debut report from journalist Blake examines the dangers of "forever chemicals," or PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), through the plight of one upstate New York town. Blake describes how the Manhattan Project's need for a substance capable of withstanding the corrosive by-products of uranium extraction spurred physicists to develop PFAS in the 1940s. Manufacturers DuPont and 3M found commercial uses for the chemicals in such products as nylon stockings and Teflon cookware, the profitability of which made the companies reluctant to scale back PFAS use despite internal research linking the chemicals to numerous cancers and birth defects. Blake drives home the toll of such negligence through a finely observed account of how Michael Hickey--a Hoosick Falls, N.Y., insurance underwriter whose father died from cancer after working for years at the town's Teflon factory--banded together with a doctor and local EPA official to investigate residents' premature deaths. They found that DuPont and other chemical companies had knowingly released lethal amounts of hazardous chemicals into the town's air and waterways, resulting in a $65 million legal settlement in 2021. Blake presents Hickey's crusade as a crackling David vs. Goliath story, and her impressive research provides damning evidence of PFAS manufacturers' callous indifference. Readers will be outraged. Agent: Larry Weissman, Larry Weissman Literary. (May)

A sharp-edged report on the world that toxic chemicals--and their manufacturers--have made. The large class of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are pervasive in industrial use. As investigative journalist Blake writes, they "transformed thousands of everyday items---dental floss, clothing, furniture, food packaging, and carpet, to name just a few." Because they are ubiquitous and have a long half-life, they are also known as "forever chemicals," with frightening consequence. Blake adds, they "have been linked to obesity, infertility, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, neurological problems, immune suppression, and life--threatening pregnancy complications, among numerous other maladies." As her book chronicles alongside accounts of lawsuits and testimonials by ordinary citizens, even as our bodies are now awash in these chemicals, some bodies are less equal than others: In the largely rural places where they are manufactured, PFAS seep into water tables, befoul farm fields, and even turn up in organic foods and wild game. They and kindred chemicals are now even carried by rainwater, making the whole planet, as one report Blake cites puts it, "outside the safe operating space" for human and animal life. Fortunately, Blake writes, something is being done: The European Commission has banned the production and sale of PFAS, and some states--including Minnesota, where 3M and other manufacturers made heavy use of them--prohibit or strictly control them, for all the dodges and loopholes industry has introduced into law through its lobbyists. (As Blake notes, meaningfully, it was Big Chemical that "invented many of the methods that Big Tobacco and other industries would later deploy to pick apart the science tying lucrative products to disease.") More needs to be done, of course, since the battle has been joined anew, and on shifting ground, with the Trump administration having shown little interest in protecting consumer safety or regulating industry. In her skillfully told work of advocacy, Blake offers a call to arms against poisoning for profit. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.