For many years, the story of C8 or PFOA contamination in the Mid-Ohio Valley was framed as nothing more than a “scare.” Journalists who covered it were accused of using inflammatory and irresponsible language to frighten people.

Calling it a “scare” became a way to dismiss the message without ever confronting the contamination. Because if this was a scare, the problem wasn’t the poison — it was the reaction.

This framing had consequences.

Critical health advisories were withheld from the public because officials did not want to cause a “scare.”

We are talking about guidance that involved the most vulnerable — infants, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems — all advised by a federal agency not to drink the water. The directives were never provided to those it was intended to protect.

And, they were never revoked.

What is actually more frightening? The poison or the way it was covered up?

Calling the crisis a “scare” undermined its significance. Attempts to define the crisis were limited to words that were safe and palatable, diluting the truth.

The message was watered down — which only served to prolong the deception.

We are, after all, talking about a silent killer, an invisible crime scene, the mass poisoning of millions, and generations of victims with no end in sight. How can such an enormous, ongoing problem be communicated effectively? For me, the answer was a new approach. So, recently I launched a true crime science podcast “Killer Chemistry” to tell the story in a different way to new audiences.

Presenting this vast environmental crisis in this way does nothing to diminish the science.

Instead, it is absorbed incidentally.

And that matters.

Because the people living with the consequences of this crisis who were incidentally exposed should not have to navigate technical language to understand what happened to them.

By using the language and mechanism of a true crime podcast, I am turning to a genre I have come to understand and respect as a journalist — a genre that most effectively communicates the kinds of truths people would rather not face.

The poison was the problem, but instead of addressing it, the response was to filter the information, diluting the truth in the process.

The reality is — this story is offensive. Not because of how it’s told but because of what actually happened.

More than 20 years into this public crisis and more than 40 years after industry and regulatory authorities became aware of the poison in the water, it occurs to me that the diluted versions of this story were not scary enough — because the threat continues. It hasn’t been handled or remediated. Industry is allowed to continue to discharge the poison into the river by virtue of their permits. Water systems that were not included in the 2002 class action lawsuit — communities like Parkersburg — are still without filtration. The poison is still being consumed.

Here’s what you need to know:

If you live in the Mid-Ohio Valley, you are being exposed through multiple pathways — and drinking water is a major concern.

As a result of the class action lawsuit filed in Wood County over contaminated water, treatment facilities were built to filter the water for Belpre, Little Hocking, Tuppers Plains, Pomeroy, Lubeck, and Mason County, W.Va. Vienna later added a filtration system in accordance with federal health advisories.

People who do not live in areas with filtered tap water can use carbon filtration systems to reduce exposure.

If you have any questions about water quality, look up your utility on the Environmental Working Group’s tap water database — which provides information about contaminants and filtration. You can find the database at ewg.org.

Has the pervasive presence of this danger made us too comfortable to notice the threat?

It’s time to stop worrying about causing a scare and start telling the truth with the clarity people need to understand what’s at stake.

Callie Lyons is an author and investigative journalist who began covering the story of PFAS or forever chemicals more than 20 years ago. She launched the Killer Chemistry podcast this year — a true crime science podcast exploring the legacy of forever chemicals developed for the Manhattan project, which subsequently made their way into the biology of nearly every living thing on Earth.