'Poison' Enrages Community

Georgia: Toxic Threat From 'Forever Chemicals' Sparks Resistance in Towns

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Sasha and Jamie Cordle thought their small farm in rural Georgia would be a ladder out of working-class struggle, and a gift for their children and grandchildren. Instead, it may be poisoning them. Tests show their spring water is laced with toxic "forever chemicals" at levels tens of thousands of times above federal safety guidelines, likely from nearby carpet factories.

"It scares us," said Sasha, a dispatcher whose husband drives long hauls across the country. She's worried about their five children, two-year-old granddaughter and a grandson due in October.

PFAS—or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains.

Developed in the 1940s, they're still used in nonstick pans, firefighting foams and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers.

Their ultra-tough carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment, linger in bodies for years and are now found in the blood of nearly every living creature on earth.

In Dalton, Georgia, which calls itself the "Carpet Capital of the World," mills run by giants Mohawk Industries and Shaw Industries are widely blamed for making the region one of America's most PFAS-laden.