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Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America
This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters’ own files, Poisoning the Well traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives.
We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’ found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens.
It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But listeners will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us.
We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’ found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens.
It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But listeners will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us.
264 pages, Hardcover
Published April 10, 2025
15 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 14, 2025
Poisoning The Well by Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin, when a scientist at Dupont chemicals accidentally created PFAS, they started using it from everything from mascara, paint to antifreeze and so much more. No matter what walk of life you walk down you will come into contact with these chemicals. 97% of Americans have in their bloodstream although in the beginning they didn’t know the danger of these chemicals once they found out they still did not care. You would think the government would step in after whole towns were degradaded by the cancers and other illnesses this chemical causes but instead it was a grassroots effort that still goes on today. The book mainly focuses on Brenda Hampton but also goes around the country to Maine Colorado in anywhere that’s a hotspot for PFAS poisoning. Brenda lives in an Alabama town wrecked by this chemical and has almost left her town a modern day ghost town with homes that whole families lived in at one time but now or vacant. throughout the book the authors share small victories they get, that only slightly chips away at the mammoth issue PFAS is causing in America. I think ignorance has caused this problem to become as big as it is along with shady dumping practices not being transparent and good old boy business practices. If you’re reading this you have been warned don’t wait until your neighborhood looks like Brenda’s. this is a quick interesting educational read although I could’ve done without all the reports verbatim in the book. Maybe that is interesting to some to me it just made my eyes glaze over but having said that those are few and far between and I’m sure apropos to the story which was very interesting. I don’t want to end this review without mentioning the great narrator Rachel Stern, who had a great voice for the topic and did an awesome job.#NetGalley, #DreamscapeMedia, #TheBlindReviewersHonestReview, #SharonUdasin,#RachelFrazin,#PoisoningTheWell, #RachelStern,
April 22, 2025
Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America by Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin is a nonfiction book about how so-called forever chemicals have changed the lives of virtually all Americans and most of the world's citizens. The authors focused on 4 American towns where chemicals called PFAS have had devastating and irreversible effects on their citizens. The chemicals have been linked to numerous cancers and other deadly illnesses. The authors tell us how these chemicals came to be and how they ended up leaching into our drinking water and poisoning many of us. (97% of Americans have traces of PFAS in our blood.) How long did the manufacturers of these chemicals know about the risks, and what did they do to cover it up? If you are at all concerned about the environment, your health, and/or corporate greed, I suggest you read this book. I listened to it on audio and enjoyed Rebecca Stern's narration.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a review copy of this audiobook.
April 6, 2025
Poisoning The Well is a critical exposé of the pervasive plague of PFAS chemicals and the inability of the US Government to effectively regulate against a raft of toxic chemicals. The publication timing of this book comes when the Trump Presidency in early 2025 moves to reverse state bans on toxic forever chemicals and instead change the way the EPA carries out chemical risk evaluations, with the increased risk to consumers.
This book then should serve as a reference book for the UK and other countries around the world, as it highlights delaying practices from chemical companies and the tactical ‘spin-off’ strategies used by them, to avoid full responsibility, accountability and liability. It is a harrowing read, as we can see how close we are to an environmental disaster and we can also see the lack of action from our government to intervene. Time and again in the book, we see striking similarities between actions from chemical companies abroad and a lack of oversight in our own country. We must learn from the hard lessons of the USA.
As the UK and Western Europe seem to be playing catch up with PFAS chemical regulation, Poisoning The Well identifies the new ultra-short-chain subtypes, such as PFMOAA and PFPrA, promoted by chemical companies, and powerfully argues that research into their impacts needs to be a priority. As noted in the text, ‘In the endless world of emerging PFAS, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the ultra-short-chain subtypes are a troubling new facet of the forever chemical problem.’
Individuals and communities are trying desperately to manage with the active chemical pollution sites which have destroyed lives, but need concerted action, remediation and justice for the widespread chemical pollution of the environment.
“All this time, it's been in the water, it's gotten into the food chain. We’re eating it. It's in plastics. We are sleeping in it. It’s in everything we touch.” - Erin Brockovich
Udasin and Frazin offer an extensive and detailed history of the actions of companies like 3M, DuPont and Chemours and note that the dangers of PFAS have been known on an industry wide level for decades. The similarities between these chemical giants and the actions of Big Tobacco are implicitly alluded to in the text. What makes this text even more shocking is that it does not simply relate industry behaviours from the 1960s and 1970s, but describes legal cases that have been brought in just the last few years as well. ‘In October 2021, the City of Decatur, along with Morgan County and Decatur Utilities, settled with 3M for nearly $100million.’ All too often though, we note that these chemical settlements can often come with a caveat that ‘the agreement is “no admission of wrongdoing or liability.” Therefore, do financial settlements go far enough?
Awakening the public conscience is always difficult, but the film ‘Dark Waters’, about the lawyer Rob Bilott’s efforts to make the chemical company DuPont responsible for its actions, certainly seems to have struck a chord around the world and has acted as a legal precedent in this litigation field.
A lack of regulatory oversight
The authors also argue that a lack of effective regulatory oversight has allowed chemical companies to pollute in an unimpeded manner, with the dangers of self-reporting and under-reporting being rife. ‘In November 2017, it came to light that 3M had alerted the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) that it had been underreporting its discharge of PFAS into the Tennessee River- for three years and by a factor of a thousand.’ The links between the lack of regulation in North America and the lack of regulation over the private water companies in the UK, which have been pumping sewage into rivers for years, are made sadly all too clear for a UK audience.
The dangers of sludge spreading and the unknown contents of these bio-solids should also be a lesson to be learned, with toxic contamination rife, with enforcement non-existent. The activist George Monbiot writes of sewage sludge being sold to farmers in the UK with levels of forever PFAS chemicals up to 135 times higher than those considered safe by scientists. This level of contamination and pollution is happening on our watch and so far, is being met with silence. Those who should have been enforcing regulatory standards have been either toothless or complicit. ‘In short, federal oversight has hardly been a panacea for dangerous chemicals. The long-standing struggle between regulators and industry begs the question- Who wields the real power over Americans’ exposure to these toxic substances?’
Switching off these ‘pollution taps’ is only the first step. Combatting the legacy contamination will take both years and levels of financial aid which are eye-watering. A financial responsibility, which chemical companies who have profited from these pollutants, appear unwilling to bear. It becomes then a state lottery as to the levels of protection against PFAS, as Udasin and Frazin note that while some states take preventative action against the toxic chemical pollution, others wait for the health impacts to hit the population. Action is then clearly possible, if the political will is there.
‘Maine became the first state to require that sludge be tested for PFAS and then to ban the materials’s spread.
As of mid-2024, Maine was the only state to have prohibited the presence of PFAS in sludge entirely, although at least sixteen other states were either implementing or considering solutions to this problem.’
Communities count the cost
Understanding that PFAS pollution is a country wide issue for the US is made abundantly clear in Poisoning The Well, as examples are cited from Maine, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio, Delaware, North Carolina and Michigan. In all these states, the authors describe local impacts: from schools being built on landfill sites; fights to ensure that safe drinking water is provided in schools; to neighbours watching their communities being torn apart with cancers and other illnesses, which could have been prevented. Communities with strong military links have also found to be heavily exposed to forever chemicals. The history of ‘aqueous film-forming foam’ of AFFF on US military bases is forensically examined in the book, with the argument being made that the US Navy knew from the late 1970s that AFFF had toxic effects. ‘But the military, like industry, already had some indication of AFFF’s toxic effects decades before such knowledge became public knowledge.’ In terms of PFAS clean up of military sites, the legacy contamination continues, ‘By the end of 2023, the Defense Department had assessed more than 700 bases and found that 574 of them needed remediation.’
Despite this, it will be difficult for military personnel to prove the causal link between their poor health and exposure to toxic chemicals in all cases, and sadly this will be seized on lawyers for chemical companies, both in the US and in the UK, where they will argue that because PFAS is so pervasive, that identifying one source of exposure is too difficult. The playbook of Big Tobacco will be used once again by those looking to escape blame. How military personnel and veterans can be treated this way by an organisation meant to look after them is truly a shocking revelation. To be left to face their health battles alone is a betrayal of their service.
‘Someone’s got to be responsible’
Poisoning The Well is unashamedly a human story. It is not a detached, impartial overview of chemical contamination. Instead, it focuses on individuals and communities. Communities that could be us. That might still be us. The book celebrates those who have fought to raise awareness in their towns and communities, at great personal cost to themselves. Because it was the right thing to do.
Regardless of where we now live, environmental pollution is becoming a dominant issue. Very rarely is contamination accidental. The authors tell moving story after moving story of people whose lives have been turned inside out, owing simply to the geography of where they were born, grew up, went to school, or went to work. Places that they thought were safe. Places that ought to have been safe.
Domestic products were sold to people in huge numbers when health effects were known, argues the book. Now, we have a situation where the ‘sheer number of different compounds out there’ and their individual, as well as cumulative impacts on humans, has created a global contamination crisis. PFAS pollution could be the biggest environmental disaster facing us. But it is not too late to stop the ticking time-bomb of harm.
Someone is responsible for the contamination.
But all of us are responsible for speaking out about PFAS pollution where we can. We, too, have a responsibility to demand action and justice from those who have contaminated our towns, homes and families. Slowly- all too slowly- the eyes of everyday people are being opened to the dangers of PFAS forever chemicals.
If other countries do not learn the brutal and harsh lessons from the USA, and instead pander to mendacious chemical companies for financial gain, then they will be complicit to the toxic poisoning of millions.
This book then should serve as a reference book for the UK and other countries around the world, as it highlights delaying practices from chemical companies and the tactical ‘spin-off’ strategies used by them, to avoid full responsibility, accountability and liability. It is a harrowing read, as we can see how close we are to an environmental disaster and we can also see the lack of action from our government to intervene. Time and again in the book, we see striking similarities between actions from chemical companies abroad and a lack of oversight in our own country. We must learn from the hard lessons of the USA.
As the UK and Western Europe seem to be playing catch up with PFAS chemical regulation, Poisoning The Well identifies the new ultra-short-chain subtypes, such as PFMOAA and PFPrA, promoted by chemical companies, and powerfully argues that research into their impacts needs to be a priority. As noted in the text, ‘In the endless world of emerging PFAS, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the ultra-short-chain subtypes are a troubling new facet of the forever chemical problem.’
Individuals and communities are trying desperately to manage with the active chemical pollution sites which have destroyed lives, but need concerted action, remediation and justice for the widespread chemical pollution of the environment.
“All this time, it's been in the water, it's gotten into the food chain. We’re eating it. It's in plastics. We are sleeping in it. It’s in everything we touch.” - Erin Brockovich
Udasin and Frazin offer an extensive and detailed history of the actions of companies like 3M, DuPont and Chemours and note that the dangers of PFAS have been known on an industry wide level for decades. The similarities between these chemical giants and the actions of Big Tobacco are implicitly alluded to in the text. What makes this text even more shocking is that it does not simply relate industry behaviours from the 1960s and 1970s, but describes legal cases that have been brought in just the last few years as well. ‘In October 2021, the City of Decatur, along with Morgan County and Decatur Utilities, settled with 3M for nearly $100million.’ All too often though, we note that these chemical settlements can often come with a caveat that ‘the agreement is “no admission of wrongdoing or liability.” Therefore, do financial settlements go far enough?
Awakening the public conscience is always difficult, but the film ‘Dark Waters’, about the lawyer Rob Bilott’s efforts to make the chemical company DuPont responsible for its actions, certainly seems to have struck a chord around the world and has acted as a legal precedent in this litigation field.
A lack of regulatory oversight
The authors also argue that a lack of effective regulatory oversight has allowed chemical companies to pollute in an unimpeded manner, with the dangers of self-reporting and under-reporting being rife. ‘In November 2017, it came to light that 3M had alerted the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) that it had been underreporting its discharge of PFAS into the Tennessee River- for three years and by a factor of a thousand.’ The links between the lack of regulation in North America and the lack of regulation over the private water companies in the UK, which have been pumping sewage into rivers for years, are made sadly all too clear for a UK audience.
The dangers of sludge spreading and the unknown contents of these bio-solids should also be a lesson to be learned, with toxic contamination rife, with enforcement non-existent. The activist George Monbiot writes of sewage sludge being sold to farmers in the UK with levels of forever PFAS chemicals up to 135 times higher than those considered safe by scientists. This level of contamination and pollution is happening on our watch and so far, is being met with silence. Those who should have been enforcing regulatory standards have been either toothless or complicit. ‘In short, federal oversight has hardly been a panacea for dangerous chemicals. The long-standing struggle between regulators and industry begs the question- Who wields the real power over Americans’ exposure to these toxic substances?’
Switching off these ‘pollution taps’ is only the first step. Combatting the legacy contamination will take both years and levels of financial aid which are eye-watering. A financial responsibility, which chemical companies who have profited from these pollutants, appear unwilling to bear. It becomes then a state lottery as to the levels of protection against PFAS, as Udasin and Frazin note that while some states take preventative action against the toxic chemical pollution, others wait for the health impacts to hit the population. Action is then clearly possible, if the political will is there.
‘Maine became the first state to require that sludge be tested for PFAS and then to ban the materials’s spread.
As of mid-2024, Maine was the only state to have prohibited the presence of PFAS in sludge entirely, although at least sixteen other states were either implementing or considering solutions to this problem.’
Communities count the cost
Understanding that PFAS pollution is a country wide issue for the US is made abundantly clear in Poisoning The Well, as examples are cited from Maine, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio, Delaware, North Carolina and Michigan. In all these states, the authors describe local impacts: from schools being built on landfill sites; fights to ensure that safe drinking water is provided in schools; to neighbours watching their communities being torn apart with cancers and other illnesses, which could have been prevented. Communities with strong military links have also found to be heavily exposed to forever chemicals. The history of ‘aqueous film-forming foam’ of AFFF on US military bases is forensically examined in the book, with the argument being made that the US Navy knew from the late 1970s that AFFF had toxic effects. ‘But the military, like industry, already had some indication of AFFF’s toxic effects decades before such knowledge became public knowledge.’ In terms of PFAS clean up of military sites, the legacy contamination continues, ‘By the end of 2023, the Defense Department had assessed more than 700 bases and found that 574 of them needed remediation.’
Despite this, it will be difficult for military personnel to prove the causal link between their poor health and exposure to toxic chemicals in all cases, and sadly this will be seized on lawyers for chemical companies, both in the US and in the UK, where they will argue that because PFAS is so pervasive, that identifying one source of exposure is too difficult. The playbook of Big Tobacco will be used once again by those looking to escape blame. How military personnel and veterans can be treated this way by an organisation meant to look after them is truly a shocking revelation. To be left to face their health battles alone is a betrayal of their service.
‘Someone’s got to be responsible’
Poisoning The Well is unashamedly a human story. It is not a detached, impartial overview of chemical contamination. Instead, it focuses on individuals and communities. Communities that could be us. That might still be us. The book celebrates those who have fought to raise awareness in their towns and communities, at great personal cost to themselves. Because it was the right thing to do.
Regardless of where we now live, environmental pollution is becoming a dominant issue. Very rarely is contamination accidental. The authors tell moving story after moving story of people whose lives have been turned inside out, owing simply to the geography of where they were born, grew up, went to school, or went to work. Places that they thought were safe. Places that ought to have been safe.
Domestic products were sold to people in huge numbers when health effects were known, argues the book. Now, we have a situation where the ‘sheer number of different compounds out there’ and their individual, as well as cumulative impacts on humans, has created a global contamination crisis. PFAS pollution could be the biggest environmental disaster facing us. But it is not too late to stop the ticking time-bomb of harm.
Someone is responsible for the contamination.
But all of us are responsible for speaking out about PFAS pollution where we can. We, too, have a responsibility to demand action and justice from those who have contaminated our towns, homes and families. Slowly- all too slowly- the eyes of everyday people are being opened to the dangers of PFAS forever chemicals.
If other countries do not learn the brutal and harsh lessons from the USA, and instead pander to mendacious chemical companies for financial gain, then they will be complicit to the toxic poisoning of millions.
May 24, 2025
Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America is the nonfiction story of how PFAS—forever chemicals that have infiltrated our environment because of corporate greed. The books focuses on four highly contaminated towns, using the corporate polluters’ own files and memos to tell the story. PFAS are in everyday products, despite scientists since the 1960's documenting their dangers. Bureaucracy and politics have gotten in the way at every turn, leaving communities devastated by cancer clusters and death. Though concern citizens have tried to take on the companies responsible, they are fighting deep pockets with mere pennies of their own.
Narrated by Rebecca Stern, who does a good job of bringing this important issue to light, Poisoning the Well highlights how little has actually been done to solve the problem. The book is relatively short and has no conclusion besides the knowledge that PFAS are dangerous. Poisoning the Well is a bit repetitive and does not dig deep enough into the problem. Overall, it contains a subject matter that is important to all of us and deserves to be discussed in more public forums.
Disclaimer: I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio version of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.
Narrated by Rebecca Stern, who does a good job of bringing this important issue to light, Poisoning the Well highlights how little has actually been done to solve the problem. The book is relatively short and has no conclusion besides the knowledge that PFAS are dangerous. Poisoning the Well is a bit repetitive and does not dig deep enough into the problem. Overall, it contains a subject matter that is important to all of us and deserves to be discussed in more public forums.
Disclaimer: I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio version of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.
April 27, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.
One of the “lovely” things about living in the United States is how screwed up our regulatory system is. Big corporations create these seemingly harmless things that are supposed to do good (remember DDT, folks?), only to find out later that the chemicals created are actually very harmful to everyone and everything. Then the company that created these chemicals gets hit monetarily with fines, and they just go one to create other highly suspect products.
I distinctly remember my mother complaining when a lot of favorite brand foods switched from glass to plastic containers. And if we know anything, it’s that mothers are more often times right than wrong. Now these forever chemicals are so ingrained in our environment that they are literally found in our blood stream. There’s no escaping them.
And with the current fascist regime in control right now, any sort of regulations about PFAS will likely be rolled back. The Environmental Protection Agency is being gutted, and there’s talk of the Clean Air and Water Act that President Nixon signed into law will be overturned. The government could require that these companies creating these chemical compounds should have to promise there would be no harm to the environment before they’re approved for use, but that’s not how things work here.
Rebeccca Stern, the narrator, has a pleasant voice, yet equally filled with the gravitas needed for such a subject. I would listen to something narrated by her again.
If anyone has to wonder how and why Americans are getting hit with chronic illnesses that can’t be explained, this book will open your eyes.
One of the “lovely” things about living in the United States is how screwed up our regulatory system is. Big corporations create these seemingly harmless things that are supposed to do good (remember DDT, folks?), only to find out later that the chemicals created are actually very harmful to everyone and everything. Then the company that created these chemicals gets hit monetarily with fines, and they just go one to create other highly suspect products.
I distinctly remember my mother complaining when a lot of favorite brand foods switched from glass to plastic containers. And if we know anything, it’s that mothers are more often times right than wrong. Now these forever chemicals are so ingrained in our environment that they are literally found in our blood stream. There’s no escaping them.
And with the current fascist regime in control right now, any sort of regulations about PFAS will likely be rolled back. The Environmental Protection Agency is being gutted, and there’s talk of the Clean Air and Water Act that President Nixon signed into law will be overturned. The government could require that these companies creating these chemical compounds should have to promise there would be no harm to the environment before they’re approved for use, but that’s not how things work here.
Rebeccca Stern, the narrator, has a pleasant voice, yet equally filled with the gravitas needed for such a subject. I would listen to something narrated by her again.
If anyone has to wonder how and why Americans are getting hit with chronic illnesses that can’t be explained, this book will open your eyes.
May 5, 2025
This is your official PSA to check what you consume and put on your body. PFAS (or forever chemicals) are in so many useful, everyday things that you don’t even know has the capacity to build up in your blood and can cause some serious damage to our bodies. I’m talking about everyday things like water repellent clothing, dental floss, menstrual products, nonstick pans, grease resistant paper like microwave popcorn paper, construction material, cleaning chemicals, and even in the tap water you drink and cook with. This expose talks about some of the repercussions of the more contaminated areas of the US, and corporations that don’t accept any responsibility and the practice of asking for forgiveness instead of permission. We should absolutely be concerned about forever chemicals and please read for yourself. It’s not something our future generations will be able to overcome if we don’t do something about it soon. Kicking the can down the road is not fair to bequeath to our future generations.
May 12, 2025
Aaaaaah!!! Why do companies get away with this crap? PFAS in the drinking water, they’ve known it’s harmful for decades, and no consequences except for the unlucky who are drinking it, bathing in it, fishing in it, and spreading it on their fields. Definitely an education.
April 18, 2025
The true story behind “forever” chemicals in our water, air, and food, and their devastating long-term effects. Well researched and presented. Well-narrated audiobook.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeMedia, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook #PoisoningtheWell for review purposes. Currently available.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @DreamscapeMedia, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook #PoisoningtheWell for review purposes. Currently available.
April 25, 2025
I'd heard of PFAS and "forever chemicals," but Poisoning The Well lays bare how it seeped into our everyday lives, the devastating impact it's had on communities and the unconscionable efforts of the companies responsible to dodge accountability. Well-written and deeply reported, this book is a must-read.
June 20, 2025
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin’s Poisoning the Well is not just a chronicle of chemical contamination—it’s an indictment, a lament, and, ultimately, a call to vigilance. With crystalline clarity and searing journalistic precision, the authors trace the devastating reach of PFAS—those infamous “forever chemicals”—from industrial labs to kitchen faucets, mapping a hidden crisis that is anything but silent. And with Rebecca Stern’s assured narration, the audiobook becomes an urgent listening experience, charged with gravity and quiet outrage.
Udasin and Frazin—both seasoned environmental reporters—navigate the complex web of corporate negligence, governmental inertia, and public health fallout with remarkable control. They avoid alarmism, instead guiding listeners through case studies and regulatory failures with a clarity that builds moral and scientific tension. The story spans decades, yet it feels frighteningly current. What emerges isn’t just a tale of contamination, but of complicity—how institutions meant to protect instead deferred, denied, or delayed.
Stern's narration is steady and empathetic. She doesn’t dramatize; she underscores. Her voice lands like a firm hand on the shoulder—a calm but unwavering presence as listeners wade through revelations that are as infuriating as they are vital. She honors the storytelling by letting the facts resonate, letting the voices of victims and whistleblowers ring through with dignity and urgency.
What makes Poisoning the Well truly piercing is how it balances its exposé with insight. It’s not content to reveal what happened; it dares to ask why we let it happen. Why trust erodes. Why denial prevails. And what it will take to shift the tide.
In audio form, the book becomes more than a documentary—it becomes a reckoning you can’t look away from. One that reminds us that the most dangerous poisons aren’t just in the water, but in the systems that keep saying it's safe to drink.
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin’s Poisoning the Well is not just a chronicle of chemical contamination—it’s an indictment, a lament, and, ultimately, a call to vigilance. With crystalline clarity and searing journalistic precision, the authors trace the devastating reach of PFAS—those infamous “forever chemicals”—from industrial labs to kitchen faucets, mapping a hidden crisis that is anything but silent. And with Rebecca Stern’s assured narration, the audiobook becomes an urgent listening experience, charged with gravity and quiet outrage.
Udasin and Frazin—both seasoned environmental reporters—navigate the complex web of corporate negligence, governmental inertia, and public health fallout with remarkable control. They avoid alarmism, instead guiding listeners through case studies and regulatory failures with a clarity that builds moral and scientific tension. The story spans decades, yet it feels frighteningly current. What emerges isn’t just a tale of contamination, but of complicity—how institutions meant to protect instead deferred, denied, or delayed.
Stern's narration is steady and empathetic. She doesn’t dramatize; she underscores. Her voice lands like a firm hand on the shoulder—a calm but unwavering presence as listeners wade through revelations that are as infuriating as they are vital. She honors the storytelling by letting the facts resonate, letting the voices of victims and whistleblowers ring through with dignity and urgency.
What makes Poisoning the Well truly piercing is how it balances its exposé with insight. It’s not content to reveal what happened; it dares to ask why we let it happen. Why trust erodes. Why denial prevails. And what it will take to shift the tide.
In audio form, the book becomes more than a documentary—it becomes a reckoning you can’t look away from. One that reminds us that the most dangerous poisons aren’t just in the water, but in the systems that keep saying it's safe to drink.
July 1, 2025
I LOVED THIS IMPORTANT BOOK
Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America is an outstanding exposé on how corporate greed has been prioritized over the health and safety of Americans. Authors Rachel Frazin and Sharon Udasin delve into the personal lives and communities that have been devastated by PFAS contamination, including upward spikes in cancer cases and deaths. With meticulous accuracy and impressive investigative reporting, Frazin and Udasin take readers back to the origins of PFAS as well as the decades of corruption that have followed in the wake of its widespread use in everyday products. Endorsed by Erin Brockovich, this book is an informative eye-opener and should be required reading for everyone, especially high school and university students. Knowledge is power, and after reading this book, I feel better prepared to make decisions on buying PFAS-free products for me and my family. Everyone needs to read this, and I will be recommending it to educators.
Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America is an outstanding exposé on how corporate greed has been prioritized over the health and safety of Americans. Authors Rachel Frazin and Sharon Udasin delve into the personal lives and communities that have been devastated by PFAS contamination, including upward spikes in cancer cases and deaths. With meticulous accuracy and impressive investigative reporting, Frazin and Udasin take readers back to the origins of PFAS as well as the decades of corruption that have followed in the wake of its widespread use in everyday products. Endorsed by Erin Brockovich, this book is an informative eye-opener and should be required reading for everyone, especially high school and university students. Knowledge is power, and after reading this book, I feel better prepared to make decisions on buying PFAS-free products for me and my family. Everyone needs to read this, and I will be recommending it to educators.
April 15, 2025
Every few years it seems another family of chemicals is discovered to be doing great harm. The government waits for proof of their toxicity, companies that produce them too often know and ignore the potential health effects, and then courts determine liability and damages.
But the damage is done.
The government could require chemicals to be proven safe before they are manufactured and sold, but in the current political climate it's doubtful that will happen. It's unfortunate that the primary punishment for corporate criminals is only monetary; prison sentences for murder might provide better prevention.
This is a great starter guide for the curse of PFAS.
But the damage is done.
The government could require chemicals to be proven safe before they are manufactured and sold, but in the current political climate it's doubtful that will happen. It's unfortunate that the primary punishment for corporate criminals is only monetary; prison sentences for murder might provide better prevention.
This is a great starter guide for the curse of PFAS.
July 31, 2025
This is the book closer to what I want. A comprehensive look at the history of these chemicals. I think it’s even harder to do now with current chemicals bc there is so many but I think this did a good job explaining it. And it’s clear that me wanting something that is going to explain exactly how these chemicals are fucking us up doesn’t exist. We just really don’t know lololol which like…goddamn. I also liked how the author used real stories to kind of ground the history she was telling. And focusing on more than just one town was great too. I think hearing of all these places, it’s like oh…it’s not just these random towns you hear about like…it’s everywhere. Anyways, good book!
December 19, 2025
(2.5 ⭐️s) Scary and informative; just not my favorite.
Sickening how these corporations and their government conspirators were able to get away with poisoning literally EVERYBODY for so long, with no real knowledge of all of the consequences. (Enough to know better, though.) God help us all 😭😂
“Remember kids, the next time that somebody tells you that the government wouldn’t do that, oh yes they would.”
Sickening how these corporations and their government conspirators were able to get away with poisoning literally EVERYBODY for so long, with no real knowledge of all of the consequences. (Enough to know better, though.) God help us all 😭😂
“Remember kids, the next time that somebody tells you that the government wouldn’t do that, oh yes they would.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2025
The book provides a good overview of the pollution problems caused by PFAs (forever chemicals). Much of the book focuses on personal stories of people who have harmed by PFAs, but the authors finally cover the macro-level issues in the later chapters.
November 18, 2025
i think this goes without saying, but fuck dupont and 3m
June 28, 2025
Udasin and Frazin do a good job of making the problem of "forever chemicals" understandable for a general audience. A bit dry at times, but I appreciated that the authors didn't try to dumb things down.
Please note that I was reading an advance reader copy which did have a few typos; I'm assuming these are corrected in the final edition.
Please note that I was reading an advance reader copy which did have a few typos; I'm assuming these are corrected in the final edition.
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