Hidden away from the public’s attention, this shocking scandal depicts the story of US chemicals giant, DuPont, and how their actions lead to generations of cancer and health care problems. The chemical in question is the infamous perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C-8, which is used to make products such as Teflon.
DuPont has been using this toxic and carcinogenic substance since the 1950s and for decades, has dumped it into the Ohio River in West Virginia. This contamination of the local water supply had ‘probably links with six illnesses’ amongst the local population, most notably kidney and testicular cancer. Despite knowing the dangers since the early 1980s, when the company confirmed its toxicity in animals in 1961 and later humans in 1982, they only phased out its use in 2006 after pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency. Samples from the Ohio River in 1984 showed toxicity levels of C-8 eight times higher than normal, which had infiltrated the drinking water supply of an estimated 70,000 residents in Ohio and West Virginia. According to a 2004 study by an industry risk assessor hired by Dupont, the plant dumped around 1.7 million pounds of C-8 between 1951 and 2003.
Research has linked PFOA and some PFAS (fluorinated chemicals) to other diseases such as thyroid disease, high cholesterol, reproductive and development harms such as pregnancy-induced hypertension, ulcerative colitis, and reduced effectiveness of vaccines. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says these chemicals pollute the bodies of virtually all Americans, including newborn babies.
Factory workers, local families, and communities living near the river affected by water pollution, all claim to have illnesses linked to PFOA pollution. A local family sued DuPont in 1998 over the loss of cattle allegedly due to the contamination from a nearby PFOA sludge-laden landfill and this lawsuit was eventually settled in 2001 for an undisclosed sum. This case triggered a class action on behalf of 80,000 people living in affected districts and DuPont offered $235 million for medical monitoring as a result. By February 2017, DuPont had settled over 3,550 for $671 million due to the growing number of individual lawsuits but continued to deny any wrongdoing.
There is no doubt that a company’s irresponsible actions can lead to detrimental effects on the rest of the community but what we should be concerned about is how to prevent future companies from behaving in a similar manner.
Citations:
The Conversation. 2022. Dark Waters: what DuPont scandal can teach companies about doing the right thing. [online] Available at: <https://theconversation.com/dark-waters-what-dupont-scandal-can-teach-companies-about-doing-the-right-thing-132480> [Accessed 27 July 2022].
Environmental Working Group. 2022. Why Are DuPont and Chemours Still Discharging the Most Notorious ‘Forever Chemical’?. [online] Available at: <https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/why-are-dupont-and-chemours-still-discharging-most-notorious-forever-chemical> [Accessed 27 July 2022].
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 2022. DuPont lawsuits (re PFOA pollution in USA) - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. [online] Available at: <https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/dupont-lawsuits-re-pfoa-pollution-in-usa/> [Accessed 27 July 2022].