Scientists find a simple way to destroy 'forever chemicals' — by beheading them

kalkulat@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 204 points – Scientists find a simple way to destroy 'forever chemicals' — by beheading them
livescience.com

the chemicals may interfere with the body's hormones, raise cholesterol levels, affect fertility and increase the risk of certain cancers, according to the EPA."

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the fastest way to take PFAS down was to heat the "forever chemical" to boiling along with DMSO and lye, or sodium hydroxide

Is it even feasible to basically pre-boil the drinking water on such a large scale?

I think the idea is to filter it out (which is also not easy) but then this gives you a way to destroy the concentrated pfas left behind. Because otherwise what are you supposed to do with the material you have filtered out? It'd be cool if regulations required the cost of destroying pfas be added to the sale of pfas which might help manufacturers decide that they don't need to add pfas to disposable things like paper plates after all.

Agreed 100%. They should be forced to add the cost of handling and recycling the material. Honestly, this should've been done with all plastic from the get go too.