PFAS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it as a well-researched, accessible overview of PFAS in PFAS-related threads.
What it is
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on PFAS, the 'forever chemicals' linked to health problems. It covers their widespread use in products like nonstick coatings and repellent fabrics and the limits of regulation.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends 725686 · 2021-10 · on “Why birds can fly over Mount Everest (2020)”
Last week, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver talks about PFAS, which was very interesting. Not only teflon, but all kind of repellent fabrics like Gore-tex: [this video]
Recommends ChrisMarshallNY · 2022-06 · on “EPA: 'Forever chemicals' pose risk even at low levels”
John Oliver (I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but he does his homework) did an episode on these, last year: [this video]
Recommends LinuxBender · 2022-12 · on “The U.S. military is poisoning Okinawa”
I thought that too. There is a video by John Oliver talking about PFAS and the other hundred or so variants of these compounds. [1] There are other videos talking about how companies can still use these compounds because the EPA only outlawed about 3 of the 130 or so. [1] - [this video] [video]
Recommends nayuki · 2025-07 · on “French villages have no more drinking water. The reason? PFAS pollution”
Additional good videos: * Vox: [LINK] * MinuteEarth: [LINK] * MinuteFood: [LINK] * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): [this video] (2021) * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): [LINK] (2024) * DW (Deutsche Welle) Documentary: [LINK]
Cites bialpio · 2022-04 · on “3M tape with anisotropic z-axis electrical conductivity”
Not sure if you'll consider this a more scientific source, but John Oliver also did a piece about PFAS: [this video] . The list of issues that the wiki article claims are "high certainty" is also quite concerning to me: [LINK] At the very least, seems that the production is being ramped down - quick skim of the article yielded this quote: "Their [PFASs'] production has been regulated or phased out by manufacturers, such as 3M, DuPont, Daikin, and Miteni in the US, Japan, and Europe."
Cites strogonoff · 2022-05 · on “Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money”
> Also, claiming that [PFAS] "seem to be poisonous" without any qualifiers is a little misleading. To my knowledge they're only poisonous during manufacturing (ie. the precursor chemicals) and when they get too hot. It’s a bit difficult to exactly measure the effects of PFAS and how much of it makes it poisonous—when a study sought a control group of people without any in their blood for a study, they were not able to find a single living person on this planet that fits the definition anymore—but even with what we know the author is likely significantly understating that particular point[0]. Even if we ignore the poison released into the environment during manufacturing, I am yet to see a us