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The History of PFAs: Everything To Know To Be Informed
Key Takeaways
PFAS were first developed in the late 1930s and quickly became a fixture in everything from nonstick cookware to firefighting foam, largely without public safety testing.
The manufacturers behind PFAS knew about potential health risks for decades before regulators or the public were informed.
Today, PFAS are linked to cancer, liver damage, immune dysfunction, and developmental harm, and they've been detected in the blood of nearly every American.
If you've spent any time reading about cookware, food packaging, or drinking water safety in the last few years, you've probably come across the term "forever chemicals." It sounds dramatic, and honestly, the reality kind of is.
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals that
don't break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body over time. They're in our water, our soil, our blood, and until very recently, they went almost entirely unregulated.
At Caraway , we've built our entire product line around avoiding these chemicals. Every piece of cookware, bakeware, and food storage we make is free of PFAS, PTFE, PFOA, and other forever chemicals, and we third-party test for over 200 harmful substances to prove it.
But understanding why that matters requires knowing where PFAS came from, how they ended up in virtually everything, and what's being done about it now.
Here's the full story.
It Started With an Accident
The history of PFAS begins in 1938, when a DuPont chemist, Roy Plunkett,
accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) while experimenting with refrigerant gases. The substance was slippery, heat-resistant, and chemically stable. DuPont recognized its commercial potential immediately and trademarked it under the name we all know: Teflon.
But PTFE wasn't the first PFAS compound. A few years earlier, in 1934, German scientists at IG Farben had synthesized polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), which would eventually be commercialized and used in semiconductors and electronic components.
Together, these discoveries kicked off a decades-long boom in fluorinated chemistry that touched nearly every industry imaginable.
From Labs to Living Rooms
By the 1940s and 1950s, PFAS chemistry was being applied at scale.
DuPont began purchasing PFAS compounds in 1951 to manufacture Teflon-coated products, and 3M was producing its own PFAS-based chemicals for use in coatings, adhesives, and industrial applications.
The unique properties of these chemicals made them incredibly versatile. They could repel water, resist grease, withstand extreme heat, and create surfaces so slick that food wouldn't stick to them.
That versatility meant PFAS showed up everywhere, in nonstick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, fast food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags, firefighting foam, waterproof outdoor gear, and more. By the time most people had heard the word "Teflon," PFAS had already woven itself into the fabric of modern life.
The military adopted PFAS-based aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) for firefighting training and operations, spraying it across airfields and military bases for decades. That foam would eventually become one of the
largest sources of PFAS contamination in soil and groundwater across the country.
What the Companies Knew (and When They Knew It)
This is where the story turns. The manufacturers weren't just profiting from PFAS. They were also studying its effects internally, and the findings weren't good.
DuPont scientists found as early as 1961 that PFAS could increase liver size in rats and rabbits. By the 1970s, the company had discovered high concentrations of PFOA (a specific PFAS chemical used in Teflon production) in the blood of its factory workers. Internal monitoring confirmed that PFOA was bioaccumulating, meaning the body absorbed it faster than it could eliminate it.
3M, the other major PFAS manufacturer, conducted a study in 1998 showing that rats exposed to certain PFAS compounds during pregnancy produced offspring that died within four days. The company shared some of this data with the EPA, but
previously secret documents reveal that both DuPont and 3M spent decades suppressing unfavorable research and controlling the public narrative around PFAS safety.
A 2023 analysis compared the industry's strategy directly to the playbook used by tobacco companies: fund your own studies, challenge independent research, and use your relationship with regulators to shape the conversation.
One internal DuPont email even outlined specific talking points for the EPA to deliver, including the assertion that products sold under the Teflon brand were safe and that no human health effects were known to be caused by PFOA. The company had evidence suggesting otherwise.
The Lawsuits That Changed Everything
The public reckoning started with a farmer named Wilbur Tennant. In 1998, Tennant hired attorney Rob Bilott to sue DuPont after his cattle began dying on his property in Parkersburg, West Virginia, which was located near DuPont's Washington Works factory.
During the case,
Bilott uncovered internal DuPont documents showing the company had known about PFOA contamination in local drinking water and had not disclosed it to regulators or the community.
In 2001, Bilott sent a letter to the EPA, the U.S. Attorney General, and multiple federal agencies, warning of a public health emergency. That same year, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of tens of thousands of people whose drinking water had been contaminated with PFOA from DuPont's plant.
As part of the settlement, DuPont funded an independent health study that examined nearly 70,000 people. The study, known as the C8 Science Panel, found probable links between PFOA exposure and kidney cancer , testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, preeclampsia, and ulcerative colitis.
The floodgates opened after that. DuPont settled thousands of individual lawsuits for roughly $671 million in 2017. In 2023,
3M reached a $10.3 billion settlement with U.S. public water systems over PFAS contamination claims, and DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva agreed to an additional $1.19 billion. By 2024, total PFAS-related legal settlements in the U.S. had surpassed $18 billion.
What PFAS Does to Your Body
The health profile of PFAS is sobering. These chemicals are classified as persistent organic pollutants, which means they don't break down in the environment and they accumulate in living organisms over time.
The EPA has linked long-term PFAS exposure to:
Kidney and testicular cancer
Liver damage and disease
Thyroid disruption
Immune system suppression
Decreased fertility and reproductive harm
Developmental issues in infants and children
High cholesterol and cardiovascular disease
Increased risk of preeclampsia during pregnancy
What makes PFAS particularly insidious is that exposure is almost impossible to avoid entirely.
Most Americans have measurable levels of PFAS in their blood , and the chemicals have been detected in
umbilical cord blood across dozens of studies, meaning exposure can begin before birth.
The EPA has stated that for PFOA and PFOS specifically,
there is no known safe level of exposure . The agency set its health-based goal for both chemicals in drinking water at zero.
Where Regulation Stands Today
For most of their existence, PFAS went largely unregulated. The EPA was first alerted to potential PFAS risks in 1998, but it took over two decades for enforceable federal standards to materialize.
Here are the key regulatory milestones:
2000: 3M voluntarily phased out production of PFOS-based chemicals.
2006: The EPA launched the PFOA Stewardship Program, in which eight major manufacturers committed to reducing PFOA emissions and product content by 95% by 2010 and eliminating them by 2015.
2009: PFOS was listed under the
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants , an international treaty aimed at eliminating the most dangerous chemicals.2016: The EPA issued its first health advisory for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water, setting a non-enforceable guideline of 70 parts per trillion. Many scientists and advocacy groups argued this was far too high.
2019: PFOA was added to the Stockholm Convention.
2024: The EPA finalized the
first-ever legally enforceable national drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals, setting maximum contaminant levels of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS individually, and 10 parts per trillion for PFNA, PFHxS, and GenX chemicals.
That 2024 rule was a landmark moment. The EPA estimated it would
reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million Americans and prevent thousands of deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other PFAS-related conditions.
However, the situation remains in flux. In May 2025, the EPA announced its intent to rescind standards for four of the six originally regulated PFAS chemicals while keeping limits on PFOA and PFOS.
In response, bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress to
codify the original 2024 standards into federal law , ensuring they can't be weakened or rolled back by future administrations.
Several states, including California, New Jersey, and Michigan, have also enacted their own PFAS regulations, in some cases setting limits stricter than the federal standard.
What PFAS Means for Your Kitchen
While drinking water and industrial contamination get most of the headlines, your kitchen is one of the most direct points of daily PFAS exposure. Traditional nonstick cookware coated with PTFE (the PFAS compound in Teflon) can
begin releasing fumes at temperatures above 500°F , and the Ecology Center's testing found that most nonstick cooking pans and some baking pans are still coated with PTFE-based PFAS.
This is the reason we exist. Every Caraway product is made without PTFE, PFOA, PFAS, lead, and cadmium.
Our ceramic cookware uses a proprietary non-toxic coating that's naturally slick without relying on any forever chemicals. Our non-toxic bakeware is built on an aluminized steel core with a ceramic-coated interior. And our glass food storage is made from ceramic-coated borosilicate glass, free of BPA and PFAS.
We third-party test everything for over 200 harmful substances because transparency isn't a marketing angle for us. It's the whole point.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
FAQs
What does PFAS stand for?
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. It's a large family of thousands of synthetic chemicals defined by strong carbon-fluorine bonds, which make them extremely resistant to heat, water, and degradation.
Are PFAS still being manufactured?
Some legacy PFAS like PFOA and PFOS have been phased out of production in the U.S. and listed under international treaties. However, replacement chemicals (like GenX) are structurally similar and have raised their own health concerns. Many PFAS compounds are still in active production globally.
Is all nonstick cookware made with PFAS?
No. Traditional nonstick cookware made with PTFE (commonly known as Teflon) falls within the PFAS chemical family. But ceramic-coated cookware uses a mineral-based, non-toxic coating that's PFAS-free. The key is to look for products that are explicitly tested and verified as free of PTFE, PFOA, and PFAS.
Sources:
The History of PFAS: From World War II to Your Teflon Pan | Manufacturing Dive
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): History, Current Concerns, and Future Outlook | PMC
The Devil They Knew: Chemical Documents Analysis of Industry Influence on PFAS Science | PMC
Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard | EPA
A Legal History of PFAS | Water Finance & Management
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) | EPA
For 20-Plus Years, EPA Has Failed to Regulate Forever Chemicals | Environmental Working Group
What's Cooking? PFAS and Other Chemical Hazards in Nonstick Pans | Ecology Center
