John Oliver and Danny DeVito Tackle PFAS on Last Week Tonight!

Spotlight on PFAS

This week, we were thrilled to see 13-time Emmy Award winner John Oliver and actor Danny DeVito discuss the dangers of PFAS on Oliver’s popular HBO show Last Week Tonight!

PFAS, a class of chemicals that stand for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are often used in food packaging and household products. High exposure to these chemicals has been linked to an array of health issues including cancer, infertility, immune suppression and more. Exposure may even cause a decreased response to vaccines, as Oliver pointed out on his show.

PFAS are also often referred to as “forever chemicals” with studies estimating their lifetime to be thousands of years. “That combination of toxicity and longevity is a real problem,” Oliver said before taking a more in-depth dive into how this all started.

A Brief History of PFAS

Oliver begins the segment by outlining how a company called 3M began selling C8, a major type of PFAS, to the notorious chemical giant DuPont back in 1951. DuPont then began using the chemical to make non-stick Teflon pans even though both companies “already knew these chemicals accumulated in humans and animals,” noted Oliver, and “didn’t degrade in the environment.” 

Oliver then explains that 3M continued to discover that there were many negative health effects from ingesting PFAS in the decades that followed. DuPont was made aware of these health effects, we are told by Oliver, yet the company largely ignored them. Instead, the company continued to push for the production of more Teflon products and even dumped C8 into waterways.

Overtime, the EPA has consistently had a “lax level of oversight,” as Oliver calls it, on this issue. Ultimately, the failure to properly regulate these chemicals has led to dire nationwide consequences. In a CDC study, it was found that C8 is now in the blood of 99.7% of Americans.

Where we come in

For years, these ‘forever chemicals’ have been the main subject of many of our campaigns as we fight to eliminate unnecessary toxins from everyday products, soil, and water. We believe that everyone has the right to toxic-free products, and the truth is: “PFAS should not be in most consumer products at all,” as Oliver said on his show. “And as companies seem unlikely to all take them out voluntarily, we badly need legislation limiting their use to only essential items like certain medical devices and protective clothing.”

We couldn’t agree more! That’s why Defend Our Health is proud to celebrate many legislative victories including playing a role in helping Maine pass a first-in-the-nation law banning PFAS from everyday products! We helped pass Maine’s LD 363 bill, which allows homeowners who have been impacted by PFAS contamination the ability to seek compensation and justice within six years from the discovery of the contamination. And just last year, our organizing and campaigning led Maine to become the first state in the country to launch an investigation of PFAS in sewage sludge – just to name a few.

As the detrimental impacts of PFAS gains more widespread attention, and as we continue to fight in Maine to set a precedent for other states and the federal government to follow, we hope to see more legislation across the nation protecting families from PFAS.