PFAS is the broadest subset of materials that contain a F-C bond and this includes teflon pan coatings, high-temperature o-rings (all vehicles/industrial equipment), fire-fighting materials for explosive environments (fertilizer, pyro, weapons, storage, etc.), and in this example, solvents that allow the semiconductor industry to function (because the periodic table has no replacement for the properties of a F-C bond).
There is a smaller subset PFAS materials that bioaccumulate: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19759456/
We know about the bioaccumulation effects because of new sensor technologies, and we are also only now learning how to break the F-C bond effectively for remediation (i.e. nothing is truly ‘forever’): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181002082417.h...
(I.e. “PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" because they do not break down in nature.” might better be stated that they do not break down quickly in nature; forever chemicals is technically a misnomer).
tl;dr humanity is in the slow learning process of how to best deal with new materials technology.
I find this topic analogous to the topic of ‘nuclear’ which has oscillated between ‘this will solve everything’ to ‘it’s all bad’ in the last century (and is now slowly changing as society is educated and can understand a bit more nuance).