🏭 3M stops making harmful "forever chemicals"

🏭 3M stops making harmful "forever chemicals"

The risk of having to pay large damage compensations causes 3M to abandon the manufacture of the "forever chemicals" PFAS, which can remain in nature for a thousand years or more.

Kent Olofsson
Kent Olofsson

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Highly fluorinated substances, PFAS, is a collective name for over 1,000 different substances that have in common that they are very difficult to break down. These synthetic substances are now everywhere in nature and we do not know how harmful they are to humans, animals, and plants.

Now, one of the largest manufacturers, 3M, has decided to stop manufacturing PFAS. At the end of 2025, the last PFAS deliveries are to depart 3M's factories, reports Bloomberg Law.

An important reason for 3M's decision is that alarms from researchers and environmental organizations have caused many countries to tighten the rules around the use of PFAS in everything from frying pans to clothing and beauty products.

Bloomberg estimates that 3M could risk paying $30 billion in damages for its production of PFAS. 3M sells PFAS for $1.3 billion a year, making it better business-wise to stop manufacturing than risk more damages as more and more countries tighten regulations.

💧 New method reduces PFAS in water
By heating water under high pressure, it is possible to break down PFAS substances that would not otherwise degrade in nature.
Warp NewsKent Olofsson
📈 Human Progress

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