the cupboards of millions for quite a long time, and that doesn’t appear to be a very good thing at all — though we probably wouldn’t know that little secret had it not been for a herd of cows. Early in the 1980s, farmer Wilbur Tennant witnessed a drastic change in his cattle shortly after selling 66 acres of his Parkersburg, West Virginia, property to the Dupont company to be used as a chemical landfill. A creek running through Dupont’s portion trickled into a field where Tennant’s cows were pastured. Within weeks, the cows that had been as loving as pets to the Tennants began acting deranged, salivating heavily, charging the farmers and taking a downhill turn in health. One by one the cattle began to die, but only after suffering terribly and in unnatural manners. Dissection of the affected cattle revealed enlarged organs tinted chemicalblue and hues of bright green. William Tennant reached out to local lawyers to sue Dupont for poisoning his cattle, but none of them agreed to accept a battle they deemed to be doomed. Not only that, but most of Parkersburg felt indebted to the chemical company in some capacity, as the local infrastructure was largely based around the factory and the jobs it provided. In the face of local rejection, Tennant looked beyond his town’s borders and hit gold when he contacted Rob Billot, an environmental lawyer who was usually charged with representing big name companies instead of filing against them. Looking at the pictures of the deformed dead or dying cows, however, left Rob Billot mad, angry that water that was also being consumed by humans was being so obviously poisoned by chemical giant Dupont. Billot prepared for battle. And what a battle it was! Throughout the years Dupont hoarded numerous private research studies on PFOA — known to Dupont as C-8 — conducted by both Dupont and its supplier of C-8, the company 3M, while employees were repeatedly reassured that the chemical was of no concern. This was despite “Teflon flu” that frequently affected workers, causing flu-like symptoms; high death-rates of test animals; and frequent, varied cancers among workers. To make matters worse, two out of seven babies born to women who worked with Teflon were affected with severe facial malformations. One of the mothers of the affected children later related that Dupont’s on-staff doctor called to question her about the health of her newborn child. He specifically asked if there were any
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TOXIC LETTERS PFAS: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS and GenX, as well as thousands of other chemicals PTFE: A chemical commonly known by the brand name Teflon. Companies other than Dupont also use this chemical, but are not allowed to call it “Teflon.” PFOA: Perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon by Dupont until 2013 C-8: The pet name given to PFOA by Dupont GenX: C-8 replacement chemical currently used in Teflon production deformities, but then parried any suspicions about C-8’s involvement. Later that week all female employees were barred from further working in the Teflon division. Internal documents later released under court order showed that C-8 had been suspect by Dupont as being a highly toxic chemical since at least 1954, with confirmation of that suspicion reached by at least 1961. Aside from the immediate threat to workers coming into close