This Chemical Does Nothing, But It's Still Bad For You

PFAS - also known as the “forever chemicals” we use in all sorts of household products - are able to cause all sorts of health problems without ever really reacting with anything

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- PFAS: A class of man-made molecules consisting of a fully (per) or partly (poly) fluorinated carbon chain connected to different functional groups.
- Teflon: A type of PFAS - PTFE - used in making nonstick coating for cookware.
- Fatty Acid: A hydrocarbon chain terminating with a carboxylic acid group.
- Albumin: The main protein of human blood plasma.

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CREDITS
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John Kinney | Script Writer
David Goldenberg | Script editor, Narrator and Director
Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
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[craz]

Does nothing, confuses stuff, gets transported to places where it doesnt need or want to be in... Hey that me!

[Lindwyrm]

The animation in this is looking great! It’s super smooth and looks fantastic.

Also, I’m obsessed with the millipede aesthetic y’all came up with. Adorable

[RandyLy]

Hey Environmental Engineer here. I'm glad they're doing more research on these molecules. I remember just about 5 years ago while I was in graduate school, my toxicology professor claimed that these PFAS forever chemicals were considered SAFE because they didn't react to anything. Now, it looks like research has changed that narrative.

[zockertwins]

An important point this video is missing is that yes, certain PFAS are unhealthy, but these are mostly only used in the production of the items and products described here and are not contained in the final products. So the products are mostly safe for the end user, but there's still issues with environmental contamination and occupational exposure of the workers in factories working with these substances.

[TheExalaber]

You framed the problem with lead as it being reactive enough to damage proteins, but couldn't you reframe it so that lead causes problems in exactly the same way as pfas? In particular, your body confuses lead for calcium and tries to insert lead into the contexts where it expects calcium to do some task, and lead is unable to do that task.

[Funkycorgiz]

I absolutely ADORE the personification of all the chemicals. Its absolutely amazing, keep up the good work!

[samwoodcock]

To my knowledge PFOS and PFOA were still used in firefighting foams in the UK up until 2011. It's generally uncommon but can be found in the soil around places such foams were used (fire stations, airports). Which is a fact that slightly terrifies me because it bioaccumulates strongly.

[DancingEagle]

You make pfas look so cute because of 1 the animation style and 2 because it looks so chill and confused all the time

[jacksonlee]

Teflon is used a lot in the fast food industry too. And many employees are not trained to discard broken Teflon sheets and will keep cooking with them for days after they’ve been broken.

[UserToadurrito]

I like how the PFAS and Fatty acids were drawn like a caterpillar, it makes sense too,
because an 3D image of the molecules that's space filling looks like a caterpillar. It just looks cute.

[llLorenzoll]

So basically the body takes the PFAS to a place and expects it to work, and when it doesn't it fucks things up. Simple as.

[joejoegames]

God damn! the Illustrations for this video are on point! <3
I especially loved the sacred CFC while the Cl goes on a chainsaw rampage!

[crackedemerald]

Really good character design this episode

[samstarlight]

Am I the only one who wants a PFAS plushy now? They look so cute!

[mattabesta]

I have some criticism of the cited research, mainly that studies that aim to identify substartes for binding generally do not detect it, or find very low affinities ~100s uM to mM, they are then also at very low concentrations <uM and are much outnumbered and outcompeted in affinity by the native substrates. The health risk from PFAS exposure seem clear, I will not argue with so many studies, though minor. I am not completely convinced that the proposed mechanisms of toxicity stand up to scrutiny. Though it is not my (sub)field. I would appreciate it if someone would explain the details a bit better than the popular media on this issue I usally see.

[paninini]

In Belgium, there was alot of drama over this. American factory not complying to our regulations and everyone was panicking.

[stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis]

Really impressed with the visuals and faces in this one

[cynamonbun]

They found PFAs in 90% of paper straws. I guess metal, macaroni or straws out of gras would be better options to stay ecofriendly.

[ghislainbugnicourt]

What I'm more and more worried about is people having disproportionate reactions to this kind of result. I presume anything used to cook could have detrimental effects in the long term, but quantifying the effect and defining a use that is "reasonably safe" would be helpful.

[melon]

How can the pfas molecules be harmful if they look so cute?