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)