Time to Pull the Plug?

The bathroom might be the room we most associate with chemicals. From moisturisers and shampoos to makeup and hair dyes, the ingredient lists on everyday products can be long, confusing and often full of substances that most of us have never even heard of. But surely these chemicals can’t be harmful? Manufacturers wouldn’t let us to rub pollutants into our faces and massage toxins into our scalps… would they?

In this final episode of Toxic!, materials scientist Mark Miodownik raids his bathroom cabinet – and dyes his hair purple – all in the name of science! His hunt for PFAS then takes him across the corridor to the bedroom, where he uncovers just how many of our clothes (and our kids’ clothes) contain these forever chemicals.

Finally, Mark gets his own blood tested to see whether PFAS is lurking inside him and – discovering that it’s very likely in almost all of us – takes to the streets to hear what the public already knows about PFAS… and whether anyone actually cares.

Series Producer: Mel Brown
Researcher: Alex Rodway
A BBC Studios Production