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3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

bloomberg.com

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Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#21

Post by Spooky23 »

staffanj wrote: post #11

We had some scandals here in Sweden also - mostly around military airports (perhaps normal airports also) that practice with putting out burning airplanes.

Yeah, never buy a house near a military base, especially one active during WW2 or later. If you do, don’t consume groundwater.

The military’s approach to dealing with waste in that era was essentially “dump it over there” or “burn it with fire”. Airbases are particularlye bad as the crap they spray on the wings for de-icing and the firefighting foam. Is everywhere and often is nasty stuff.

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#22

Post by mensetmanusman »

It would be an interesting future historical study to see what caused more harm:

-Manufacturing the best firefighting chemistry (e.g. military purchases for missile warehouses, resorts, apartments, etc.) -Using the chemistry to actually fight fires

It might be a case where sometimes second best should have been the way to go, but it’s hard to know beforehand I imagine, especially in safety scenarios where people are laser focused on optimizing for that.

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#23

Post by DoingIsLearning »

londons_explore wrote: post #17
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #7

Nothing will change until there are prison sentences, and the very deliberate system of shielding managers and corporations from responsibility is changed. It was known for decades that Asbestos and cigarettes causes lung cancer, that adding lead to gasoline is a terrible idea, that burning oil warms the atmosphere. The truth was suppressed through intimidation, lawsuits and bribes. Regulatory agencies are corrupted…

There are lots of countries with lots of governance models, yet none as far as I know would have proactively banned any of those things early on. I suspect that means there is a flip side we aren't seeing. It means there is a huge disadvantage to banning some probably harmful chemical. For example, if you were a small island and you banned imports of everything containing any PFAS, you'd end up in the technological s…

Huge logic sleight of hand.

It is a very different piece of legislation to apply a cautionary principle to any substance in cookware, food containers, or in contact with human skin, versus a full out ban on iphones because some processor inside it used a PFAS lubricant at some point in the supply chain.

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#24

Post by mensetmanusman »

elil17 wrote: post #9

After reading the series "A Chemical Hunger" by the blog Slime Mold Time Mold, I'm pretty convinced that chemical contamination is a global-warming level threat to humanity. The authors talk about the evidence that chemicals released into the environment by human activity (such as PFAS) are causing obesity, and they present compelling evidence that this is plausible. They are also working on research to confirm this…

When my mother moved in and we went on daily walks, she lost a pound a week for a year. Her entirely sedentary lifestyle (and that of most Americans I know) is a major factor for her obesity. Standing is now considered exercise it has gotten so bad.

But people will blame anything instead of taking action, so…

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#25

Post by fnimick »

londons_explore wrote: post #19
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean NO2 from diesel exhaust is provably reducing longevity i.e. killing people sooner, still no prison sentences happened for any of the heads in VW. [0] [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

I support no prison sentences for VW... The engineers were meeting the letter but not the spirit of the rules, just as so many other companies do. You probably have done the same when you did revision just before a geography test at school - you probably only learnt the syllabus rather than going to the library and learning everything in the geography section. The VW engineers made a car that had only 'revised' enoug…

And anyone who has done the same to cheat the tests in other industries should also be penalized accordingly. I can't believe you're excusing deceptive behavior and test cheating because "everyone does it!"

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#27

Post by hansword »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #24
elil17 wrote: post #9

After reading the series "A Chemical Hunger" by the blog Slime Mold Time Mold, I'm pretty convinced that chemical contamination is a global-warming level threat to humanity. The authors talk about the evidence that chemicals released into the environment by human activity (such as PFAS) are causing obesity, and they present compelling evidence that this is plausible. They are also working on research to confirm this…

When my mother moved in and we went on daily walks, she lost a pound a week for a year. Her entirely sedentary lifestyle (and that of most Americans I know) is a major factor for her obesity. Standing is now considered exercise it has gotten so bad. But people will blame anything instead of taking action, so…

Just because a sedentary lifestyle is bad for your health, doesn't mean smoking is harmless.

Do you know anything about these chemical? If so, please share. If not, well, ....

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#28

Post by xxpor »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #24
elil17 wrote: post #9

After reading the series "A Chemical Hunger" by the blog Slime Mold Time Mold, I'm pretty convinced that chemical contamination is a global-warming level threat to humanity. The authors talk about the evidence that chemicals released into the environment by human activity (such as PFAS) are causing obesity, and they present compelling evidence that this is plausible. They are also working on research to confirm this…

When my mother moved in and we went on daily walks, she lost a pound a week for a year. Her entirely sedentary lifestyle (and that of most Americans I know) is a major factor for her obesity. Standing is now considered exercise it has gotten so bad. But people will blame anything instead of taking action, so…

What if the chemicals aren't making you fat directly, but messing with your neurotransmitters and sapping your motivation?

Doesn't seem completely out of the realm of possibility.

Re: 3M’s PFAS Crisis Has Come to Europe

#29

Post by DoingIsLearning »

londons_explore wrote: post #19
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean NO2 from diesel exhaust is provably reducing longevity i.e. killing people sooner, still no prison sentences happened for any of the heads in VW. [0] [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

I support no prison sentences for VW... The engineers were meeting the letter but not the spirit of the rules, just as so many other companies do. You probably have done the same when you did revision just before a geography test at school - you probably only learnt the syllabus rather than going to the library and learning everything in the geography section. The VW engineers made a car that had only 'revised' enoug…

I know HN rules but this is apologetic bullshit.

The firmware actually detected if it was in test chamber conditions and ran in 'eco' mode. Outside these conditions it went full performance/full polluting mode.

This is text book fraudulent behaviour with complete lack of duty of care for anyone breathing the air near those exhaust pipes in city centres across the world.

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