The chemical had seeped into the water supply of at least six public water systems in West Virginia and Ohio. As a consequence, an angered Robert decided to make this case public and get justice not only for the cattle, but for the Parkersburg residents whose lives were put at danger through the consumption of the poisoned water. The aim is to double sales of these modules in industrial water treatment from the 2019 fiscal year to 2021. News Release: Spending Bill Provides Nearly $300 Million To Address ‘Forever Chemicals’, Testimonies & Official Correspondence: EWG Comments to EPA in Support of Regulatory Revisions to the State 1 and Stage 2 Disinfection Byproducts Rules, Article: Avoiding the Hidden Dangers in Cosmetics and Fragrance Gift Sets, News Release: EWG Applauds Farm and Food Worker Protection Funds in Covid-19 Relief Package. The Matching Tattoo The 'Avengers' All Got Is Actually Pretty Cool Looking, These 'Avengers' Actors Are Superheroes IRL, Here's How Your Crush Noah Centineo Got His Face Scar, Source: Photo by Maddie McGarvey/ For The Washington Post via Getty Images, Trevor Noah and Girlfriend Minka Kelly Are Getting Serious, An A.I. WASHINGTON – DuPont, whose toxic fluorinated chemicals have contaminated communities nationwide, is buying a company that specializes in removing those same chemicals from tap water. For nearly 70 years, DuPont and 3M have known that PFAS chemicals build up the blood of people, and since the 1960s were aware of the health risks from exposure to PFAS compounds but hid that information from its workers and the public. Since the 1940s, DuPont made and used PFAS chemicals to make highly profitable consumer products, including Teflon, which at one point earned $1 billion a year for the chemical giant. The Washington Works DuPont plant in Parkersburg, WV on October 28, 2015. The tumors are similar to those seen in rats exposed to C8. The following year, DuPont agreed to pay $16.5 million as part of a settlement with EPA, which was "the largest civil penalty ever in the agency's history.". "They're hiding something," the two begin to suspect. Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Legal Disclaimer | Reprint Permission Information Scientists found that in water, the chemical GenX hydrolyzes into hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), which was among the PFAS found in the treated drinking water. Reverse osmosis is one of the most expensive water filter technologies on the market, but it can remove many fluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS, that have contaminated drinking water for an estimated 110 million Americans and are in the blood of virtually everyone, including newborns. Here's what you need to know about the real-life DuPont lawsuit. Tennant connects the deaths to the chemical manufacturing corporation DuPont, and gives Robert a large case of videotapes. Listen to an interview with Bilott about the chemical lawsuits on Science Friday. We can't wait to see how this riveting legal case is brought to life by Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway, who are already receiving Oscar buzz for their performances. Facebook Twitter Amazon Youtube Instagram Pinterest RSS Sign Up! “Exposure: Poisoned Water, a Conspiracy of Silence, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont.”   It is a riveting first-person account of how he revealed the company’s dumping of the chemicals and the decades-long coverup of the health hazards of PFAS. Dark Waters feels like it exists in the same universe, though it follows a lawyer this time, who similarly brings DuPont to task in West Virginia in a 20-year legal battle. The extent of DuPont’s duplicity did not come to light until 2001, when attorney Robert Bilott filed a federal class-action suit against the company for polluting the drinking water for more than 70,000 people in and around Parkersburg, W.Va., with PFOA, the Teflon chemical used in DuPont’s factory there. In 1984, DuPont became aware that dust vented from factory chimneys settled well beyond the property line and, more disturbing, that PFOA was present in the local water supply. DuPont and Chemours Co have agreed to pay $671 million in cash to settle thousands of lawsuits involving a leak of a toxic chemical used to make Teflon, the companies said on Monday. The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Desalitch provides reverse osmosis filtration to the food and beverage, mining, and power industries, as well as to municipal water utilities. But what's the true story behind Dark Waters? Industries and markets count on us to become more efficient; to make food more nutritious; and to offer more effective pharmaceuticals. After that success, Robert continued his pursuit of taking DuPont to task and getting justice for the 70,000 Parkersburg residents that the company poisoned. In 2004, the EPA "filed a lawsuit against DuPont, charging it with concealing evidence about C8's risks for more than two decades." A stream in Williamstown, Ohio tested positive on Jan. 12 for C8, a DuPont chemical used to make Teflon.DuPont has a plant in Washington, WV, about 18 miles north of Williamstown. Robert Bilott is a corporate defense lawyer from Cincinnati, Ohio working for law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister. Legal Disclaimer updated April 2016 | Privacy Policy updated October 2019. Strengthening our partners. Dark Waters will be released in select theaters Nov. 22, and across America on Nov. 29. Environmental Working Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, EIN 52-2148600. GenX was introduced in … That year, Bilott filed a class action lawsuit against DuPont, Leach, et al. Animal studies conducted by DuPont found tumors in rats exposed to Gen-X, according to the film. As a leader in microbial control, DuPont offers technology for sustainable and effective water treatment programs. 3,550 plaintiffs from the mid-Ohio Valley filed suit claiming contaminated drinking water led to diseases linked to chemical exposure. Dark Waters, out November 22, is adapted from a New York Times Magazine story that cast Bilott as a “worst nightmare” for DuPont, a centuries-old American chemical company. Thus began an extremely long and contentious battle between Robert and the people of Parkersburg he was defending, and the chemical mogul known as DuPont. Between 2018 and July 2019, DuPont made more than $84 billion in revenues, more than any other U.S. chemical company. The chemical giant DuPont made an offer Monday to pay more than half-a-billion dollars to settle water contamination lawsuits pending in federal court. During his research, Robert learned that DuPont had been engaging in this practice since at least 1951. DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. announced a mega-merger in December of last year that will create chemical giant DowDuPont. "DuPont is knowingly poisoning 70,000 local residents for the last 40 years," Robert tells his wife, played by Anne Hathaway. After discovering C8 in Lubeck’s water supply in the early 1980s, DuPont had dredged up 14 million pounds of C8-laced sludge from the unlined pits near the town wells and dumped it into the Dry Run landfill. Soon, Robert discovered that DuPont had been dumping chemical waste — including an unregulated chemical compound — near the site where Wilbur was raising his cattle. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, PFOA — also known as C8 by DuPont — is a man-made chemical used in the production of stain-resistant carpets and … Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. In 1954, DuPont employees noted that this chemical was likely to be toxic. But that's not even where the story ends. Since the 1940s, DuPont made and used PFAS chemicals to make highly profitable consumer products, including Teflon, which at one point earned $1 billion a year for the chemical giant. Bot Is Judging How Bad Your Spotify Is — and the Results Are Hilarious, "Potential Breakup Song" by Aly & AJ Is Not About Joe Jonas, but This Single Is, Where Was 'After We Collided' Filmed? The preview shows Robert learning about DuPont from a rancher whose cows have been dying, it turns out, as a result of their chemical leak. Farmer Wilbur Tennant, who knows Robert's grandmother, asks Robert to investigate a number of unexplained animal deaths in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Copyright © 2020, Environmental Working Group. Distraction, disruption and rapid change define our modern lives. Michigan is suing 3M, DuPont and other companies for financial damages from contamination caused by potentially harmful “forever” chemicals that are turning up in drinking water … 8 DowDuPont will break into three separate companies in the next two years, each one specializing in one area: agriculture, material science, and specialty products. DuPont announced on Wednesday it will purchase Desalitech Ltd., a manufacturer of closed-circuit reverse osmosis technology. If plagued by PFAS and PFOS” – the two most notorious PFAS chemicals – “reverse osmosis is an excellent remedy.”, “After making billions contaminating the nation’s drinking water with PFAS chemicals, now DuPont will profit off the backs of local governments and taxpayers trying to clean up the mess,” said EWG President Ken Cook. The chemical, allegedly leaked into waterways around a West Virginia plant, has been linked to cancer and other diseases. In 1998, Wilbur Tennant, the farmer we see in the trailer, contacted Robert when he believed that poison in the water his cattle was drinking was responsible for killing 190 of his cows. The chemical giant DuPont made an offer Monday to pay more than half-a-billion dollars to settle water contamination lawsuits pending in federal court. Solving water challenges. 3,550 plaintiffs from the mid-Ohio Valley filed suit claiming contaminated drinking water led to diseases linked to chemical exposure. Played by Julia Roberts in an award-winning performance in a movie by the same name, the film told the story of Erin, who despite her lack of formal legal education, was instrumental in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California in 1993. DuPont Water Solutions has entered into an exclusive global partnership with Sun Chemical and its parent company, the DIC Corporation, to bring membrane degasification modules to market. Japan’s DIC Corporation and its Sun Chemical subsidiary have agreed a strategic partnership with DuPont for degassing modules for water treatment. Our TED@DuPont series explores some of the best ideas from across the DuPont ecosystem, from the chemistry of everyday life … In an attempt to understand how DuPont is being held accountable, not just financially for the medical damages, but also for the environmental damage that has been done–the groundwater impacts that negatively affect drinking water throughout the region and downgradient regions–do you know where DuPont stands with cleaning up the mess they’ve created? Chemicals from a DuPont landfill seeped into the water system, poisoning the farmer's cows and causing terrible malformations. According to Salon, which published a long-form article about the case that we recommend reading, the Environmental Protection Agency got involved in the suit as well. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly known as DuPont, is an American company formed by the merger of Dow Chemical and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company on August 31, 2017, and the subsequent spinoffs of Dow Inc. and Corteva.Prior to the spinoffs it was the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. … A timeline of internal company memos assembled by EWG documents the decades-long deception perpetrated by DuPont and 3M. As the world and our interactions grow more complex, so do our challenges. “This outrageously cynical move is right on brand for DuPont, which knew decades ago that PFAS chemicals were hazardous to human health but covered it up for the sake of profit.". Companies, communities, and homes around the world choose DuPont Water Solutions to help make water safer and more accessible. Remember Erin Brockovich? The preview shows Robert learning about DuPont from a rancher whose cows have been dying, it turns out, as a result of their chemical leak. The merger has been reported to be worth an estimated $130 billion. But what's the true story behind Dark Waters? DuPont Teflon Chemical Was Detected In Bottled Water Called Crystal Spring. The following is an excerpt of Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont by Robert Bilott and Tom Shroder. v E.I. "What if whatever is killing those cows is in the drinking water?" du Pont de Nemours and Co., on behalf of about 80,000 people in the six water districts. The companies said they … DuPont started using C-8 in its Teflon production at the Parkersburg factory in 1951. Communities whose water is contaminated with the Teflon chemical, or other PFAS compounds from other companies, face huge costs for installing filters to remove the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, thyroid … DuPont has added degasification to water treatment solutions to its range through exclusive partnership with Sun Chemical and its parent company DIC Corporation. Some 60,000 Wilmington, N.C., residents get their drinking water from the Cape Fear River. A market analysis by Owler estimates Desalitech’s annual revenue at $6.5 million. Bilott’s epic fight to hold DuPont accountable for contaminating the drinking water in Parkersburg is now being told in a new feature film from Participant and Focus Features, “Dark Waters,” starring actor and water activist Mark Ruffalo as Bilott. Its website says: “Municipal water treatment plants require reliable water treatment technologies to effectively produce high quality water. The Big Bang of the nationwide “forever chemicals” crisis was the revelation in 2001 that PFOA, a toxic compound used to make Teflon, had contaminated the drinking water for 70,000 people near a DuPont factory in West Virginia. But the C8 levels in Lubeck’s water kept climbing. At that point, the chemical had already been discovered in the drinking water of tens of thousands of people living near one of the company’s plants, in … The 'After' Sequel Is Finally on Netflix. 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