TECH Signal 133
Former 3M scientist reveals how company concealed PFAS toxicity for decades
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A former 3M scientist, Kris Hansen, explains in a ProPublica podcast how the company kept its knowledge of PFAS toxicity secret for decades, allowing the chemicals to spread globally.
This insider account exposes the mechanisms behind a corporate cover-up that delayed action on a planet-wide contaminant. For engineers, it underscores the ethical weight of handling sensitive data and the long-term consequences of prioritizing profit over public health.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
3M knew since the 1970s that PFAS were toxic but continued production, according to the podcast.
Kris Hansen worked in 3M's environmental lab in the 1990s and handled highly sensitive data about the chemicals.
Hansen kept silent for 27 years before speaking to reporter Sharon Lerner for the 'Paper Trail' series.
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