[Opinion] We Regulate a Tiny Fraction of the 12,000 ‘Forever Chemicals.’ There’s a Better Way

By Kathleen Blackburn | The New York Times | April 21, 2024

Read the full article by Kathleen Blackburn (The New York Times)

"When I was 12 years old, I sat inside a raucous tent revival in West Texas, gripping my seat in fear that a traveling evangelist would accuse me of killing my father.

A healthy former Air Force pilot who’d averaged an eight-minute mile in the New York City Marathon, my father had just been diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer and been given a short time to live. Nothing about his predicament made sense to our family at the time. He was 38, a nonsmoker and nondrinker, with no history of cancer in his family.

My parents were conservative evangelicals deeply skeptical of the medical industry, and his diagnosis kicked their beliefs into high gear. When doctors couldn’t answer our questions — Why did Dad have cancer? What could we do? — we sought out faith healers who did. Traveling evangelists and local preachers claimed that the cancer was, in fact, a satanic attack. This gave us a way out: We simply had to muster enough faith to believe a miracle was possible and God would heal him."