“Forever chemical” settlement comes from three companies accused of polluting with PFAs

The backstory: Have you ever heard the term “PFAS” or “forever chemicals”? PFAS stands for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which make up a group of chemicals that can get into the environment and the human body, causing a lot more damage than scientists used to think. PFAS are still being studied, but they’ve already been linked to health conditions like liver damage, weakened immune systems, some forms of cancer and more in both humans and animals. These chemicals can be found in tons of stuff we come in contact with every day, like food wrappers, nonstick pans and carpeting. And they can build up in the environment in the air, soil and water, leading to more people ingesting them. As “forever chemicals,” PFAS stick around for a while, too, since they don’t easily break down.

More recently: There has been growing worry about PFAS levels in the water supplies all over the world. Last June, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that PFAS are likely super dangerous even at levels thousands of times lower than scientists thought before. A couple of months ago, the EPA started making moves to limit PFAS in the water supply. And three major chemical companies – Chemours, DuPont de Nemours and Corteva (along with other, smaller ones) – have been hit with thousands of lawsuits saying they’ve played a major role in this pollution by using PFAS in their manufacturing. The plaintiffs have sued for billions of dollars in damages to manage the health impacts and the cost of cleaning up and monitoring polluted areas.

The development: On Friday, Chemours, DuPont and Corteva announced that they would be settling these lawsuits. They deny the allegations, but are forking over a total of US$1.19 billion to a settlement fund. The agreement will probably be finalized later this year.

This deal would apply to lawsuits involving water systems with detectable levels of PFAS contamination and those monitored for contamination by the EPA. Lawsuits concerning other water systems and personal injury/sickness are a whole other story. And more state attorneys general have already filed new suits for these companies to deal with. Bloomberg also reported last week that the company 3M is also working on an at least US$10 billion settlement to avoid a PFAs trial set to begin on Monday, although this hasn’t been confirmed.

Key comments:

“[This settlement is] an incredibly important next step in what has been decades of work to try to make sure that the costs of this massive PFAS ‘forever chemical’ contamination are not borne by the victims but are borne by the companies who caused the problem,” said Rob Bilott, an environmental lawyer working with the plaintiffs in the cases.

“This settlement by DuPont, in our mind’s eye, deals with really just a fraction of this contamination,” said Michael London, lead counsel for one of the plaintiff law firms.

In a statement, Dupont said it “has never manufactured PFOA or PFOS.”