State Sues Chemical Coys for Concealing Products’ Health Impacts

Two chemical companies which concealed the health impacts of their widely used household products have been dragged to court.

DuPont and 3M face litigation accused of “misrepresentations and key omissions they made in advertising the safety of brand names such as Teflon, Stainmaster, and Scotchgard.”

The announcement came from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday, enlisting two of the country’s largest manufacturers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of 15,000 synthetic.

The compounds dubbed “forever chemicals” due to their resistance to breaking down in the environment or the human body, report says.

Commonly used in nonstick cookware, waterproof materials, as well as in protective coatings for textiles and industrial equipment, PFAS have been found in human blood, water, air and soil across the globe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

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A report on the matter in Newsweek notes that several studies have demonstrated links between forever chemicals and harmful health impacts in humans.

It says PFAS became the subject of the 2019 thriller Dark Waters, which starred Mark Ruffalo as environmental attorney Robert Billot, who brought a lawsuit against DuPont for dumping the chemicals in rural communities in West Virginia.

It added that Wednesday’s filing with the District Court of Johnson County, Texas, indicates that DuPont and 3M have been “aware of the harmful effects of PFAS chemicals for over 50 years,” but nevertheless marketed products containing these chemicals in Texas and elsewhere “as safe for consumer use,” while concealing their risks from the public.

“These companies knew for decades that PFAS chemicals could cause serious harm to human health yet continued to advertise them as safe for household use around families and children,” Paxton said.

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“Texas is taking action to penalize these companies and hold them accountable for deceiving Texans into buying consumer products without vital information.”

“In addition to injunctive relief—the cessation of the practice by DuPont and 3M—Texas is seeking $1 million “or more” in civil penalties, attorneys’ fees and costs, with civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices–Consumer Protection Act.