3M Lied For 40 Years, Knowing That Firefighting Foams Contained PFAS; Company Said They Were Harmless, Biodegradable

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The multibillion-dollar chemicals company 3M told customers its firefighting foams were harmless and biodegradable when it knew they contained toxic substances so persistent they are now known as “forever chemicals” and banned in many countries including the UK, newly uncovered documents show. From the 1960s until 2003, 3M made foams containing PFOS and PFOA (perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid), synthetic chemicals that can take tens of thousands of years to degrade in the environment and have been linked to cancers and a range of other health problems such as thyroid disease, high cholesterol, hormonal problems and fertility issues.

Pollution from these substances in soils and water is now widespread across the globe, and has been detected in animals, human organs and blood. They are part of a wider family of more than 15,000 chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) but popularly called “forever chemicals”. Experts have described PFAS pollution as “one of the greatest threats facing mankind”. Last year, 59 leading scientists signed an open letter to the UK government urging it to impose stricter regulations on the substances.

Documents uncovered by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian reveal that evidence showing PFOS does not biodegrade had begun to appear as early as 1949. However, until the 1990s 3M continued to produce information and brochures for customers stating that natural processes would break down the foams. Brochures for 3M firefighting foams dated 1979 described them as being “environmentally neutral” as well as “biodegradable, low in toxicity, and … can be treated in biological treatment systems”.

In a 1986 document, 3M stated that “if 3M Light Water Brand aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) products were pure chemicals instead of mixtures, OECD guidelines would classify them as ‘readily biodegradable’”. Data sheets from 1993 still recommended that the foams be discharged to sewers because they were “treatable in a biological wastewater treatment system”, although they noted that some elements might remain in treated wastewater.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/15/3m-firefighting-foams-pfas-forever-chemicals-documents