Fri, 8 Nov 2024 18:44:46 +1100
Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>
<https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story>
"Kris Hansen had worked as a chemist at the 3M Corporation for about a year
when her boss, an affable senior scientist named Jim Johnson, gave her a
strange assignment. 3M had invented Scotch Tape and Post-it notes; it sold
everything from sandpaper to kitchen sponges. But on this day, in 1997, Johnson
wanted Hansen to test human blood for chemical contamination.
Several of 3M’s most successful products contained man-made compounds called
fluorochemicals. In a spray called Scotchgard, fluorochemicals protected
leather and fabric from stains. In a coating known as Scotchban, they prevented
food packaging from getting soggy. In a soapy foam used by firefighters, they
helped extinguish jet-fuel fires. Johnson explained to Hansen that one of the
company’s fluorochemicals, PFOS — short for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid —
often found its way into the bodies of 3M factory workers. Although he said
that they were unharmed, he had recently hired an outside lab to measure the
levels in their blood. The lab had just reported something odd, however. For
the sake of comparison, it had tested blood samples from the American Red
Cross, which came from the general population and should have been free of
fluorochemicals. Instead, it kept finding a contaminant in the blood.
Johnson asked Hansen to figure out whether the lab had made a mistake.
Detecting trace levels of chemicals was her specialty: She had recently written
a doctoral dissertation about tiny particles in the atmosphere. Hansen’s team
of lab technicians and junior scientists fetched a blood sample from a
lab-supply company and prepped it for analysis. Then Hansen switched on an
oven-size box known as a mass spectrometer, which weighs molecules so that
scientists can identify them.
As the lab equipment hummed around her, Hansen loaded a sample into the
machine. A graph appeared on the mass spectrometer’s display; it suggested that
there was a compound in the blood that could be PFOS. That’s weird, Hansen
thought. Why would a chemical produced by 3M show up in people who had never
worked for the company?
Hansen didn’t want to share her results until she was certain that they were
correct, so she and her team spent several weeks analyzing more blood, often in
time-consuming overnight tests. All the samples appeared to be contaminated.
When Hansen used a more precise method, liquid chromatography, the results left
little doubt that the chemical in the Red Cross blood was PFOS.
Hansen now felt obligated to update her boss. Johnson was a towering, bearded
man, and she liked him: He seemed to trust her expertise, and he found
something to laugh about in most conversations. But, when she shared her
findings, his response was cryptic. “This changes everything,” he said. Before
she could ask him what he meant, he went into his office and closed the door."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
"Kris Hansen had worked as a chemist at the 3M Corporation for about a year
when her boss, an affable senior scientist named Jim Johnson, gave her a
strange assignment. 3M had invented Scotch Tape and Post-it notes; it sold
everything from sandpaper to kitchen sponges. But on this day, in 1997, Johnson
wanted Hansen to test human blood for chemical contamination.
Several of 3M’s most successful products contained man-made compounds called
fluorochemicals. In a spray called Scotchgard, fluorochemicals protected
leather and fabric from stains. In a coating known as Scotchban, they prevented
food packaging from getting soggy. In a soapy foam used by firefighters, they
helped extinguish jet-fuel fires. Johnson explained to Hansen that one of the
company’s fluorochemicals, PFOS — short for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid —
often found its way into the bodies of 3M factory workers. Although he said
that they were unharmed, he had recently hired an outside lab to measure the
levels in their blood. The lab had just reported something odd, however. For
the sake of comparison, it had tested blood samples from the American Red
Cross, which came from the general population and should have been free of
fluorochemicals. Instead, it kept finding a contaminant in the blood.
Johnson asked Hansen to figure out whether the lab had made a mistake.
Detecting trace levels of chemicals was her specialty: She had recently written
a doctoral dissertation about tiny particles in the atmosphere. Hansen’s team
of lab technicians and junior scientists fetched a blood sample from a
lab-supply company and prepped it for analysis. Then Hansen switched on an
oven-size box known as a mass spectrometer, which weighs molecules so that
scientists can identify them.
As the lab equipment hummed around her, Hansen loaded a sample into the
machine. A graph appeared on the mass spectrometer’s display; it suggested that
there was a compound in the blood that could be PFOS. That’s weird, Hansen
thought. Why would a chemical produced by 3M show up in people who had never
worked for the company?
Hansen didn’t want to share her results until she was certain that they were
correct, so she and her team spent several weeks analyzing more blood, often in
time-consuming overnight tests. All the samples appeared to be contaminated.
When Hansen used a more precise method, liquid chromatography, the results left
little doubt that the chemical in the Red Cross blood was PFOS.
Hansen now felt obligated to update her boss. Johnson was a towering, bearded
man, and she liked him: He seemed to trust her expertise, and he found
something to laugh about in most conversations. But, when she shared her
findings, his response was cryptic. “This changes everything,” he said. Before
she could ask him what he meant, he went into his office and closed the door."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
