PFAS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight4 HN recommenders · 2021–2025
6.3M views · commentary · dated · Uploaded 2021-10-04
John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on PFAS, the 'forever chemicals' linked to health problems. It covers their widespread use in products like nonstick coatings and repellent fabrics and the limits of regulation.
HN points to it as a well-researched, accessible overview of PFAS in PFAS-related threads.
1:16:17In Search Of A Flat Earth
Folding Ideas
3:54:44The Century of the Self (Full Adam Curtis Documentary)
David Lessig
![Video frame: Dominion (2018) - full documentary [Official]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LQRAfJyEsko/hq2.jpg)
2:00:00Dominion (2018) - full documentary [Official]
Farm Transparency Project
2:31:00Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem with Gabe Brown Part 1, The 5 Tenets of Soil Health
Living Web Farms
9:18The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See (part 1 of 8)
wonderingmind42
2:58The Loving Trap
Ben Woodhams
58:46The Century of the Self - Part 1: "Happiness Machines"
JustAdamCurtis
57:38Clasp: Common Lisp using LLVM and C++ for Molecular Metaprogramming
Google TechTalks
6 comments from Hacker News
Last week, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver talks about PFAS, which was very interesting. Not only teflon, but all kind of repellent fabrics like Gore-tex: [VIDEO]
Not sure if you'll consider this a more scientific source, but John Oliver also did a piece about PFAS: [VIDEO] . The list of issues that the wiki article claims are "high certainty" is also quite concerning to me: [LINK] At the very least, seems that the production is being ramped down - quick skim of the article yielded this quote: "Their [PFASs'] production has been regulated or phased out by manufacturers, such as 3M, DuPont, Daikin, and Miteni in the US, Japan, and Europe."
> Also, claiming that [PFAS] "seem to be poisonous" without any qualifiers is a little misleading. To my knowledge they're only poisonous during manufacturing (ie. the precursor chemicals) and when they get too hot. It’s a bit difficult to exactly measure the effects of PFAS and how much of it makes it poisonous—when a study sought a control group of people without any in their blood for a study, they were not able to find a single living person on this planet that fits the definition anymore—but even with what we know the author is likely significantly understating that particular point[0]. Even if we ignore the poison released into the environment during manufacturing, I am yet to see a used Teflon pan that has no scratches (and that’s just the ones visible with naked eye). Combine with the fact that non-Teflon pans are becoming nearly impossible to find in many retail stores, and it becomes somewhat concerning. [0] [VIDEO]
John Oliver (I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but he does his homework) did an episode on these, last year: [VIDEO]
I thought that too. There is a video by John Oliver talking about PFAS and the other hundred or so variants of these compounds. [1] There are other videos talking about how companies can still use these compounds because the EPA only outlawed about 3 of the 130 or so. [1] - [VIDEO] [video]
Additional good videos: * Vox: [LINK] * MinuteEarth: [LINK] * MinuteFood: [LINK] * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): [VIDEO] (2021) * LastWeekTonight (John Oliver): [LINK] (2024) * DW (Deutsche Welle) Documentary: [LINK]