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This story was told in the cinema, in “Dark Waters”, and this film, it was he who inspired him. In this excerpt from “Special Envoy” of May 12, 2022, American lawyer Robert Bilott retraces the steps that led him to the discovery of a scandal that was to become global: the health risks linked to discharges into the environment. PFOA, a substance used to make Teflon.
For American lawyer Robert Bilott, it all started in 1998, when a farmer in West Virginia asked for his help. His cattle are decimated, and he suspects the white moss floating on the surface of the nearby river to be responsible. The operation is located next to the landfill of a large chemical plant owned by DuPont de Nemours. The lawyer decides to follow this lead. To be able to access the chemical giant’s internal documents, he sued him.
Here is what he discovers in these documents: DuPont knew for decades the risks of PFOA, this molecule nicknamed “eternal pollutant” because of its persistence in the environment. The company had been using it since the 1950s to produce Teflon, a “miracle” product found in many everyday objects, such as non-stick pans. Internal documents show that DuPont had long been conducting confidential studies on the dangerousness of this substance. Studies with worrying results, but which the company has kept secret.
Internal documents that show what DuPont knew about the effects of PFOA
As early as the 1960s, the group’s scientists had in fact discovered numerous toxic effects of PFOA on several animal species: rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs… In the 1980s, says Robert Bilott, the first studies were carried out on the possible links between exposure to PFOA and certain cancers. Conclusion: the substance causes testicular tumors in exposed rats. In the 1990s, a second study again showed testicular cancer in rats, but also pancreatic and liver tumours.
So this is what caused the death of the cattle, according to the lawyer… But Robert Bilott will discover that the problem concerns much more than this single farm: “The PFOA had spread into the drinking water network throughout the region. Tens of thousands of people were probably drinking this water. We were facing a serious public health problem.” PFOA spilled into the Ohio River caused widespread pollution around the DuPont plant in West Virginia. For several decades, tens of thousands of people drank contaminated water…
Excerpt from “Perfluorides: towards a global scandal?”, an investigation to see in “Special Envoy” on May 12, 2022.
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