Rachel Frazin never imagined that her childhood love of nature would one day lead her to uncover a national environmental crisis. Growing up in Boca Raton, she attended sea turtle hatches at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and took part in occasional beach cleanups. But it wasn’t until she began reporting on energy and environmental policy for The Hill that she stumbled upon a subject that would change the course of her career.
That’s when she first heard about PFAS, or “forever chemicals” — a large class of man-made substances that break down so slowly they accumulate in the environment and human body over time, posing health risks such as cancer, liver damage and immune system effects.
“The more I learned about these chemicals,” Frazin says, “the more fascinated and horrified I became.”
PFAS, she explains, have worked their way into nearly every aspect of modern life. “These toxic compounds have infiltrated not only what we buy but all of us — having been found in the bloodstream of at least 97% of Americans.”
Determined to uncover the full scale of the crisis, Frazin teamed up with fellow journalist Sharon Udasin on an in-depth investigation. Released in April, “Poisoning The Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America” traces how PFAS have polluted communities nationwide. Drawing on visits to four severely impacted towns and damning records from polluters’ files, it reveals a chilling account of corporate greed and its toll on human lives.
“One of the areas that is known to have had PFAS contamination is Wilmington, North Carolina. I traveled there and met with activists in a historically Black and underserved community known as Rock Hill. I think my presence as a national news reporter helped to further set off alarm bells in the community and it was around that time that people started counting cancer cases. In this small community, they ultimately found 130 cases of cancer.”
Frazin, 28, encourages consumers to stay vigilant and watch out for products labeled nonstick, waterproof, sweatproof, greaseproof or stain-resistant — “basically anything that’s meant to repel water should be a red flag,” she says, and opt for items marked PFAS-free, PFC-free or free of fluorinated chemicals.
“Some products like cosmetics are required to list their ingredients. I’d avoid anything that has PTFE or anything with an ingredient with ‘fluor’ in its name.”
Communities like Boca Raton can take action by contacting their local representatives to advocate for restrictions on PFAS-containing products, hold polluters accountable and ask water providers for transparency on this issue.
“I hope that people can use this as a jumping-off point to educate themselves about what is in both their drinking water and the products that they buy,” Frazin adds. “I hope people … think about both the potential consequences of their own health and the health of people who live downstream of where they are manufactured.”
To learn more about PFAS contamination, join Frazin for a book talk at Barnes & Noble in Boca Raton on June 21.
For more information on “Poisoning The Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America,” visit barnesandnoble.com.
