Regina Barber

We didn't have Teflon.

We didn't have Gore-Tex to make clothes waterproof.

Until scientists discovered a special family of chemicals, PFAS, chemicals that repelled stains and dirt and water and oil that at first seemed like a miracle.

That's Melissa Furlong.

She's an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Arizona.

She's also an environmental epidemiologist.

And because PFAS chemicals have all of these useful properties, she says we put them in a lot of different things.

You might find them on your cooking pans, raincoats, some pesticides, maybe in your makeup.

And once they get into our bodies, they're hard to get rid of.

Because these chemicals don't break down easily in the environment or in the human body, PFAS are known as forever chemicals.

The body of research on PFAS is still growing.

We don't totally understand all the effects these chemicals might have on our health.

So one place Melissa and her colleagues are looking for answers is in a group that's historically had some of the highest levels of PFAS, firefighters.

So today on the show, what PFAS levels in firefighters tell us about these forever chemicals and how the average person can think about limiting their exposure to them.

I'm Regina Barber, and you're listening to ShoreWave, the science podcast from NPR.

Melissa, you've been looking into like different ways firefighters could have gotten PFAS into their body.

Let's start with their occupation.

Where are the PFAS coming from on the job?

And in your study, when you're like analyzing how PFAS might be getting into the firefighters, how are you doing that investigation?

How are you getting this data?