PFAS are useful chemical compounds that have been used for a lot of applications in our world, whether for Gore-Tex, for Teflon anti-stick pans or to put out fires. They have this inherent property of not being affected by the environment—the extreme environment in particular—so that turns into a burn-resistant, stain-resistant or friction-resistant component.
As a result, they end up in almost everything we fabricate, including the textiles around us—if someone is wearing polyester—and the varnishes on our tables. They're also in all those sites where hydrocarbon fires have been put out or where we have tested foams for their quality of putting out fires of hydrocarbons.
Firemen have tested new foams by essentially digging a hole, putting in some diesel, using the foam and then leaving the foam to put out the fire. The result is that this has sunk into the ground and into the aquifer. That's one of the very important sources of PFAS in our community, and they are also linked with military bases and airports.
We then have the industries that use them. Then there are landfills that, as a result of all of our uses, end up with those PFAS, which then up in their leachate or their emissions. As a result, we have PFAS in our blood. I have PFAS in my blood. There's, in fact, no blood sample that does not contain PFAS in general. I have never tested a sample for suspected PFAS that did not have PFAS in it.