One of the scariest and worst health disasters affecting the world was brought to public light in 2011. So why the f**k isn’t there the international outcry as there is for mercury, radiation or plastics? This is much more pervasive! And why did those responsible, who knew what they were doing, simply get a slap on the hand? They’re not only little affected, they’re still very much thriving. Law and power for greed once again, but this time on an unprecedented scale.

It started with Wilbur Tennant, a small farmer in Parkersburg, USA, whose cows showed very unusual behaviour and physical abnormalities. Not just one or two, but the entire herd of 200, which all died. He knew it was coming from the stream on his land, and he tried to get local lawyers, politicians and journalists on the case, but none were interested. Why, because the town’s survival depended on DuPont, a chemicals company that also produces a wide variety of industrial and consumer products. Since at least the 1970s DuPont had been discharging and burying their waste in the local area. The farmer eventually found Robert Bilott, a corporate defence attorney working for the law firm, Taft. Robert was more used to defending corporations and had even worked with DuPont lawyers in the past, but he decided to accept the case. Little did he know at the time the scope of what would be uncovered.

The case brought to light a man-made chemical called C8. A panel of scientists was eventually brought together to analyse C8, and what they uncovered is that not only 99% of Americans have it in their blood, it’s found in humans all around the world. The panel acknowledged that C8 is linked to high cholesterol, thyroid disease, kidney and testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and ulcerative colitis. But C8 attacks the immune system by binding to the protein cells, so there will be many more diseases associated with it, simply not yet proved to have a link. Think about Wilbur’s cows with severe physical and behavioural disorders.

C8 or PFOA, was created by 3M in 1947. DuPont started buying C8 from 3M in 1951 for their production of Teflon. 3M knew that the chemical was hazardous. Scientists at 3M once heard what sounded like hail falling on their roof, only to find it was birds falling dead out of the sky who had flown over ventilation pipes where the chemical was being produced. 3M passed on the information to DuPont who ignored recommendations on how to dispose of C8.

3M weren’t only producing the chemical, they were also using it in their own products, notably, Scotchgard. It’s only because of Robert Bilott’s work in contacting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did they ask 3M about C8. And it was only then that 3M took the decision to stop the production of Scotchgard in 2000. However, I still see it for sale online, and not only that they still officially use the product in carpets and cleaning products.

It was DuPont who invented the PFAS chemical patented as Teflon, but 3M became its main manufacturer. PFAS led to PFOA, also known as C8, but the variety of industrially used PFASs is so large that we hardly know many of them; currently there are known to be 9000. These man-made chemicals are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they never disintegrate. It’s only in January 2022 that an article came out in Scientific American, talking about a study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering, that the EPA found a heat-and pressure-based technique known as supercritical water oxidation, in which 99% of the PFASs present in their water sample were destroyed. But the sample only had a fraction of known ‘forever chemicals’ in it, and this technique is too expensive and complicated to expand into water treatment centres. There’s also no way it can be applied to air or soil contamination, let alone plant, animal and human.

Plants, animal and human bodies do not expel these ‘forever chemicals’, they simply accumulate. The toxicity level of these chemicals is one part to a billion, meaning it only takes one drop to contaminate an Olympic size swimming pool. The chemical’s effects are so widespread throughout the body that even very low exposure levels are associated with health effects.

Through the Scotchgard line of products, 3M was making about $300 million dollars a year, 2% of their yearly revenue. And DuPont is making, wait for it, $1 billion dollars a year through Teflon, or PFAS. DuPont phased out the use of C8 in Teflon, but simply replaced it with another ‘forever chemical’ known as Gen-X. The EPA are already finding it in waterways, and they suspect it may be even more toxic than C8. Gen-X is also being found in water sources in Europe.

They now know that ‘forever chemicals’ spread around the world through industrial waste including air pollution and consumer products which shed these chemicals over time including through dust. The problem with these chemicals is that they’re being used in so many products including, non-stick cookware, fire retardants, stain and water repellents, paint, some furniture, self-cleaning ovens, waterproof clothes, shoes, nylon, Lycra, tape and many construction materials, pizza boxes and take-out containers, food packaging including sweet wrappers, carpets and textiles, rubbers and plastics, electronics, some dental floss, cleaning products, cosmetics and even hospital equipment and drugs … They’re everywhere! It seems like we can no longer avoid them, and remember, the more the body consumes, the more prone one becomes to the illnesses brought on by ‘forever chemicals’ which we’re still finding out about.

Don’t think that the water problem only exists in the United States. PFAS water pollution has been identified in countries across Europe, including Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden. In the southwestern town of Rastatt, Germany, PFASs made drinking water unusable in 2019. And 21 municipalities in the Veneto region of Italy have been found to have their surface, ground and drinking water contaminated. The UK must be happy not to be included in this list, but they’re no longer a part of Europe, and according to the Guardian, the UK doesn’t test its drinking water for PFASs. Bottled or distilled water isn’t going to be much help either, as it’s in air, rain and groundwater. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), many European countries are addressing the issue by placing controls and monitoring, but with over 4,700 PFASs known to the EEA, ministers are calling for an action plan to eliminate all non-essential uses of the chemicals. What that means is yet to be seen.

DuPont and 3M are seeing the repercussions of these chemicals through lawsuits, but they have the money for lawyers to fight them and lobbyists to defend their agendas. 3M’s reported annual revenue for 2021 was $35.355 billion and DuPont’s, $16.650 billion. Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been the international outcry that I would expect. Or is it that they’re used in too many things to be comprehensively addressed? One thing’s for sure, the hero in all this is Robert Bilott. Not only was he jeopardising his career while developing the case, he feared for his life. His courage and determination in exposing it all are truly remarkable, qualities that deserve to be recognised with international accolades and awards.

Sources: (See also Sidebar)

“The Devil We Know” – Documentary on the Parkersburg case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJFbsWX4MJM&ab_channel=SH999PLiE

New York Times article about the Parkersburg case:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html