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Common, cheap ingredients can break down some ‘forever chemicals’

PFAS don’t typically degrade but lye and dimethyl sulfoxide help break some of their atomic bonds

Seven yellow water-resistant jackets hanging up on a rack next to a pair of yellow rain boots

A kind of “forever chemical” used in such things as water-resistant clothing is difficult to degrade. But a new method using heat, lye and dimethyl sulfoxide appears to bust its strong atomic bonds.

Elena Bennett/EyeEm/Getty Images Plus

By Jude Coleman

There’s a new way to rip apart harmful “forever chemicals,” scientists say.