Forever chemicals are hiding everywhere. These five habits can help you avoid them. (From the archives)

父亲之死,牵出"永久化学物"污染全球水源的真相?

Apple News In Conversation

2026-09-04

32 分钟
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单集简介 ...

This is an episode from our archives. It originally aired in May 2025. Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, are found in virtually every corner of the world, including in most people’s bodies. These synthetic compounds have been linked to a wide range of health issues — from infertility to cancer to neurological problems — even at low levels of exposure. In a new book, They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, investigative journalist Mariah Blake lays out how these toxic chemicals became so ubiquitous. Blake spoke with Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu about a group of unlikely activists fighting back against those responsible and offers practical tips to protect yourself.
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单集文稿 ...

  • This is In Conversation from Apple News.

  • I'm Shumita Basu.

  • Today, how forever chemicals have poisoned the world.

  • For most of his life,

  • Michael Hickey never saw himself as an activist.

  • He's an insurance underwriter.

  • He has a fear of public speaking.

  • That's investigative journalist Mariah Blake.

  • He had no interest in environmental issues.

  • He had no interest in politics.

  • He liked to joke that he got his news from ESPN.

  • Then, in 2010,

  • his father was diagnosed with an aggressive kidney cancer

  • and died a few years later at the age of 70.

  • Michael was devastated,

  • and he started to think about how this could have happened,

  • and about some of the other deaths

  • in their small town of Hoosick Falls, New York.

  • Everyone in the community had stories of people

  • who had died young of cancer