The trouble is that the same carbon-fluorine bonds that make PFAS so stable and useful in consumer products also make them incredibly persistent in the environment. Which is why you might also know PFAS under a different name: ‘forever chemicals.’ They have been found everywhere from bustling cities to untouched areas of wilderness. Every continent, including Antarctica, has PFAS all over it. Almost every living creature, from polar bears to birds to fish to humans, this stuff is now everywhere.