How 20th-Century Synthetics Altered the Very Fabric of Us All

They have become an evolutionary force, altering human biology and the web of life

Aeon Magazine
Jan 4, 2019 · 17 min read
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‘Ground zero for PFAS pollution’: the DuPont Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on 28 October 2015. Photo by Maddie McGarvey/the Washington Post via Getty Images

By Rebecca Altman

September 1938, the fall before the New York World’s Fair opened, a 5,000-year time capsule was planted 50 feet beneath the Flushing Meadows fairgrounds. The capsule was 7.5…

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