In this episode, I interview Dr. Anna Reade, PFAS scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

In Part 1 of this two-part interview, we discuss her participation on a panel with several chemical industry representatives and the flawed and misleading arguments they made to oppose regulating PFAS chemicals as a class.

Dr. Reade discusses her family and growing up in a small town near Death Valley, her educational path, including a long break before graduate school and a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from the University of California, San Francisco. She explains how and why she was drawn to advocacy for environmental health and joining NRDC as a PFAS scientist. She then covers some of the basic issues and concerns with PFAS (more in Part 2).

Some of Dr. Reade's work can be found here: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-reade/pfas-pollution-widespread-disadvantaged-communities

and here:

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-reade/big-reveal-hundreds-health-studies-next-gen-pfas

and here:

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-reade/scientific-basis-managing-pfas-chemical-class

During the interview, we briefly discuss a chart which can be found on page 8 (page 11 of the pdf) of this report:

https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/pfas-textile-report-202105.pdf