Why Carrie Fellner spent nearly a decade chasing the story of ‘forever chemicals’

For nearly 10 years, investigative reporter Carrie Fellner has been reporting on the unfolding environmental and health crisis of the impacts of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

From Williamtown near Newcastle in NSW, to Minnesota in the US, the regional military airports around Australia and the Indigenous community of Wreck Bay on the idyllic NSW South Coast, Fellner has pursued an unfolding story of contamination, cancer, cover-up and corporate malfeasance.

Investigative reporter Carrie Fellner has pursued the story of forever chemicals or PFAS for nearly a decade.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Here she explains what has driven her pursuit of a story that is set to feature in a new Stan Original documentary, Revealed: How to Poison a Planet, from April 28.

Q: When someone asks you what PFAS is, what do you say?

CF: When people hear the term PFAS it sounds like something complicated and scientific but it’s actually relatively simple. They’re better known as forever chemicals, and have a unique ability to repel oil, grease and water. They became this miracle ingredient for industry when it realised they could be used to sell dozens of everyday household products.

They are in your contact lenses and stop your eggs from sticking to the frying pan. They make your kids’ school uniforms waterproof and help your lipstick to stay on for longer. But the problem with forever chemicals is they’re the strongest chemical bond known to mankind, so they never break down. Once they’re in the environment, they stay there forever. And once they’re in the human body, they stay there for many years.

Q: You’ve spent nearly 10 years covering the emerging health and environmental PFAS crisis. It’s taken you from regional Australia to the US. Why does the issue resonate with you so much?

CF: I couldn’t look away because it was the worst nightmare that could happen to anyone, and it was happening to all of these ordinary Australian families. It was a substance the scientific community seemed to know so little about but that had been linked to all of these disturbing outcomes like cancer, high cholesterol, suppression of the immune system and low birth weight. Families were told this chemical was in their blood, their breast milk, it would carry across to their babies in the womb, it was in the puddles their kids played in. I subsequently found out people all over the globe were being plunged into the same situation. And then, in 2018, I began to uncover allegations of corporate malfeasance and cover-up against the main manufacturer, 3M, which opened up this whole new avenue to investigate. That’s why I kept going.

Q: You’re about to feature in a documentary that examines how the forever chemicals scandal has played out around the world. How did that come about?

CF: I was approached by some independent documentary makers, Katrina McGowan and Janine Hosking from iKandy Films, in 2020. McGowan had begun making a film about PFAS in the Aboriginal community of Wreck Bay near the world-famous sands of Jervis Bay, a tourist mecca. She was looking for someone who had a background in PFAS to get involved. By that point, I’d been investigating PFAS for about five years, so we felt a good approach would be to work together on an investigation in Wreck Bay. As we kept knocking on doors and turning over stones it snowballed, taking the story all the way to New York City where we unearthed extraordinary information about 3M’s conduct.

Director Katrina McGowan behind the scenes with actor and activist Mark Ruffalo during the filming of How to Poison a Planet. Credit: iKandy Films

Working alongside the director, Katrina, for three years meant we could use each other as a sounding board, share the enormous workload of chasing down leads and together navigate an emotional roller-coaster as we had to overcome obstacle after obstacle. Katrina’s passion to see justice for Wreck Bay and hold 3M to account really shines through in the film and she worked magic bringing the story to life on the screen. She was also able to bring Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo on board which we hope will help drive the film and its message to audiences internationally.

I’m also grateful for the brilliant photography of Rhett Wyman, the skill of producers Janine Hosking and Mat Cornwell, and the guidance of my (long-suffering!) editors Bevan Shields and Michael Evans.

Q: The story features corporate intrigue and government cover-ups. What has stuck with you?

CF: Getting hold of 3M’s internal documents, there was a paper trail that appeared to show the company was secretly paying off scientists to block the release of information showing PFAS was hazardous, and put out studies claiming it was safe. It was alleged in court one of these scientists was becoming extremely wealthy by playing both sides: claiming they were leading the world in researching PFAS and fighting the good fight, while actually secretly working for this company. That was one of the most shocking things because we all trust science to tell us what’s risky – but what happens when science is part of the cover-up? It was also a huge surprise when we discovered how long ago the Australian government was alerted to this problem. The company has always denied the allegations.

Q: What personal stories have stuck with you?

CF: The thing that resonated the most was just talking to the young people who have had to face their own mortality and endure these excruciating cancer treatments and have lost so many precious high school years. There were two young sisters from Wreck Bay who both developed this rare kind of brain tumour that baffled their doctors. There were these startling parallels as I interviewed high schoolers in Minnesota with brain tumours. To see their anguish and how similar it was to someone on the other side of the world, but they all had exposure to PFAS and they’re all asking, “Has PFAS done this to me?” It was pretty poignant.

Carrie Fellner speaks to Wreck Bay resident Nick Carter on location during the filming of How to Poison a Planet. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Q: What steps have you taken to ensure you don’t have exposure to PFAS products in your life?

CF: It was funny; it was only halfway through this three-year documentary project Katrina mentioned our non-stick pans were full of PFAS. I’d naively thought all the PFAS had been taken out of pans, not realising the manufacturers had just replaced one type of forever chemical with another. So then we both embarked on a project to rid our houses of PFAS.

Q: Did you throw out your pots and pans?

CF: They’re sitting in the garage somewhere. But, yeah, I have ordered $500 worth of pans, to my husband’s horror.

Q: What can people do to check whether there’s PFAS in products?

CF: Focus on things advertised as being stain-repelling or waterproof because those are the most likely to have PFAS in them. A lot of make-up has PFAS in it. So that’s a good place to start, as well as personal care products.

Q: Can you tell me about the experience of Wreck Bay and spending a lot of time with an Aboriginal community?

CF: Wreck Bay was a real slow-burn story for us. We were very gung-ho when we started, and quickly realised that approach wasn’t going to work; people needed time to feel safe enough to trust us with their stories. It was a matter of persistence – we just had to keep letting people know the door was open and we really cared about the community.

How to Poison a Planet will be available on Stan from April 28.Credit: Stan

Q: Tell me about hearing people’s stories about what’s happened to their culture.

CF: That was pretty harrowing to have this beautiful picture painted for us of their culture, but also to see the depth of the grief they have as a result of the contamination. We were taken to all of these unbelievably beautiful places they can’t go to any more. Kids used to swim around in these creeks and now they’re poisonous. Those creeks are sacred sites; it’s affecting their relationship with the spirits and their ancestors and that’s such a part of who they are.

Q: Why should people care about this story?

CF: This is an issue that affects us all and it’s not just about one contaminant, it’s about the entire cocktail of chemicals we’re exposed to in modern society. We all have forever chemicals in our blood but we were never asked if we were OK with that. It’s just happened and we seem to have the horse following the cart, where we study the health effects later, when it’s already too late to reverse the damage. This is about how we do business in a capitalist society and the rights of people to be safe in their homes. It’s time for society to have a hard think about how we regulate these companies.

Q: Do you think Australians have a sense of how big this story is going to be?

CF: Many people still don’t realise that, in 2003, the average Australian had forever chemicals in their blood at 20 times the “safe level” secretly calculated by 3M. Now the US EPA is saying there’s no safe level of these chemicals and has warned unless they are cleaned up they will cause thousands of preventable deaths and illnesses. We’re still in the early stages of discovering how far the contamination footprint extends across Australia. I think this problem will be generational in scale.

The Stan Original Documentary Revealed: How to Poison a Planet, premieres on April 28, only on Stan.