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By Hugh Cameron
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The state of Texas is suing two chemical giants for their decades-long failure to disclose the health impacts of widely used household products.
The announcement came from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday, and accuses DuPont and 3M of "misrepresentations and key omissions they made in advertising the safety of brand names such as Teflon, Stainmaster, and Scotchgard."
3M and DuPont are two of the country's largest manufacturers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of 15,000 synthetic compounds dubbed "forever chemicals" due to their resistance to breaking down in the environment or the human body.
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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, which notes that several studies have demonstrated links between forever chemicals and "harmful health effects" in humans.
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.
According to Wednesday's filing with the District Court of Johnson County, Texas, 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.
Newsweek has contacted DuPont and 3M via email outside of business hours and will update this article if a response is received.
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"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. "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.
Newsweek has contacted the Texas Attorney General outside of business hours for further comment on the lawsuit, and to inquire how many violations of the DTPA are estimated to have taken place.
DuPont and 3M have both faced lawsuits in the past to the presence of PFAS in their products, resulting in billions of dollars in potential liabilities for the two companies.
In June 2023, 3M agreed to pay $10.3 billion over 13 years to settle water pollution claims tied to its use of PFAS, though the company said the settlement was not an admission of liability.
This came weeks after DuPont, alongside chemicals companies Chemours and Corteva, said they would pay $1.19 billion to settle claims over water pollution brought by U.S. public water systems.
In 2022, 3M announced that it would stop producing PFAS by the end of 2025, while working to "discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio."
"3M's decision is based on careful consideration and a thorough evaluation of the evolving external landscape," the company said, "including multiple factors such as accelerating regulatory trends focused on reducing or eliminating the presence of PFAS in the environment and changing stakeholder expectations."
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