About this archive
About this archive
This section of PFASfacts is a historical archive of pfasfacts.com, a website published by 3M Company from 2018 to 2025. PFASfacts is independent and is not operated by, affiliated with, or endorsed by 3M.
What pfasfacts.com was
pfasfacts.com described itself as “Information about PFASs and 3M’s involvement with them.” Every captured version is written in 3M’s voice and carries the footer “Copyright 3M and PFASfacts. All Rights Reserved.” Some captured addresses carry Google search advertising tags (campaign “pfasfacts initial”), which indicates the site was promoted through paid search.
The Internet Archive holds two distinct versions:
- The 2018 edition (captured December 2018 to June 2019): seven pages built with the BeTheme WordPress theme. Read the 2018 edition.
- The final edition (captured September 2019 to May 2025): a single page titled “The Facts on PFAS”, built with a custom theme. It is preserved at /archive/the-facts-on-pfas/.
The last capture of 3M’s site is dated 31 May 2025. By 15 July 2025 the domain showed a registrar notice that it was pending renewal or had expired.
How to read these pages
- The archived pages reproduce 3M’s text exactly as captured, including its headings, quotations, attributions and links. Nothing in them has been rewritten.
- Each archived page opens with a yellow panel giving the capture date and a link to the capture itself.
- Where a statement has since been contradicted by a scientific or regulatory decision, a panel marked “Archive note, added in 2026” says so and links to What has changed since.
- The copyright line at the foot of each archived page is 3M’s original footer, shown as part of the record.
Captures used
| Page | Original address | Capture used |
|---|---|---|
| The Facts on PFAS (final edition) | https://www.pfasfacts.com/ | 30 May 2025 |
| 2018 edition home page | http://www.pfasfacts.com/ | 30 June 2019 |
| What Are PFASs | http://www.pfasfacts.com/what-are-pfass/ | 23 February 2019 |
| 3M’s History with PFASs | http://www.pfasfacts.com/3ms-history-with-pfass/ | 23 February 2019 |
| Facts About PFASs | http://www.pfasfacts.com/facts-about-pfass/ | 23 February 2019 |
| What Agencies Say | http://www.pfasfacts.com/what-agencies-say/ | 23 February 2019 |
| 3M’s Sustainability Fund | http://www.pfasfacts.com/sustainability-fund-1/ | 23 February 2019 |
| News | http://www.pfasfacts.com/news/ | 23 February 2019 |
What could not be recovered
- EPA Action Plan. The June 2019 menu of the 2018 edition linked to a page at /epa-action-plan/. The Internet Archive never captured it, so its content is unknown. That address now leads here.
- All images of the 2018 edition. They were served from a sister address, pfcfacts.com, and none were captured: the 2018 logo, seven page backgrounds, six page link images, two charts on Facts About PFASs, three small images of people quoted or described (file names Oyebode.png, Sherman-150×150.png and Banovetz-150×150.png) and four news thumbnails.
- The 2018 site’s search form and a “Home” menu item that appeared in December 2018 are not reproduced.
Differences from the original
- The 2018 edition uses the final edition’s PFASfacts wordmark, because the 2018 logo file was not captured.
- Page backgrounds, page link images and news thumbnails of the 2018 edition are licensed replacement photographs from Unsplash, credited below and on each page. They are not the original images. The charts and the images of people were not replaced.
- Link and heading colours are slightly darker than the originals so that text meets accessibility contrast guidelines. Page animations have been removed.
- The final edition was first captured on 13 September 2019 with three different photographs and a closing line inviting readers to 3M.com “to learn more about who we are and how we innovate.” From December 2019 onward the page used the photographs shown here and the closing line reproduced on the home page. The text of the page is otherwise the same in every capture from 2019 to 2025.
- The 2018 home page said 3M employed “more than 91,000 people” in December 2018 and “more than 93,000” by June 2019. The June 2019 wording is used.
Image credits
The photographs on the home page (the final edition) and the PFASfacts wordmark are the originals, recovered from the Internet Archive. The following replacement photographs, used in the 2018 edition, are from Unsplash under the Unsplash License:
| Where | Original file (lost) | Replacement |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 home page background | MainHomeIMage4.jpg | Photo by Neeqolah Creative Works |
| 2018 home page, Key Facts background | beakers.jpg | Photo by Hans Reniers |
| 3M’s History with PFASs background | ScienceBkgrnd6.jpg | Photo by Nathan Rimoux |
| 3M’s Sustainability Fund background | ScienceBkgrnd_Fund1.jpg | Photo by Brandon DesJarlais |
| Facts About PFASs background | ScienceBkgrnd9.jpg | Photo by Nathan Rimoux |
| Link image, 3M’s History with PFASs | iconbox2a.jpg | Photo by Logan Gutierrez |
| Link image, Facts About PFASs | iconbox3a.jpg | Photo by Nathan Rimoux |
| Link image, News | iconbox7a.jpg | Photo by Annie Spratt |
| Link image, What Agencies Say | iconbox6a.jpg | Photo by Beatriz Pérez Moya |
| Link image, What Are PFASs | iconbox1a.jpg | Photo by Omar:. Lopez-Rincon |
| News background | ScienceBkgrnd7.jpg | Photo by Jonathan Gong |
| News, Associated Press item | 3M_APnews.jpg | Photo by Tim Mossholder |
| News, CBS Minnesota item | 3MCBSnews.jpg | Photo by Valentin Walter |
| News, Pioneer Press item | Courtroom.jpg | Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan |
| News, Star Tribune item | 3Mbuilding.jpg | Photo by manu schwendener |
| What Agencies Say background | ScienceBkgrnd8.jpg | Photo by The Tampa Bay Estuary Program |
| What Are PFASs background | ScienceBkgrnd3.jpg | Photo by Terry Vlisidis |