3M said it has not produced PFAS at the plant inaugurated in the 1970s since 2024 and has launched a soil remediation operation in the area.<\/p>\n
But Geert Lenssens, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said about 1400 locals are seeking \u20ac20,000 each in compensation in anticipation of future needs, accusing the US group of \u201cexcessive neighbourhood disturbances\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn illness can take several decades to develop, as we saw with asbestos,\u201d Lenssens said, adding his clients\u2019 properties in the area also stood to lose value.<\/p>\n
Human-made chemicals<\/p>\n
Many of the plaintiffs huddled in the small courtroom, where a judge is to hear the case over three days.<\/p>\n
An elderly couple sitting in the first row said they expected an apology from 3M, complaining about health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s poison that we received in our garden, in our blood, in our bodies,\u201d added Praet, who has lived less than 2km from the plant for 25 years.<\/p>\n
With her two children, she was among the locals who underwent blood testing. She said she has since stopped eating the eggs from her hens and abandoned plans for a vegetable garden, in accordance with the recommendation of local authorities.<\/p>\n
The case follows the successful lawsuit brought by another local family against 3M before the same court, according to Lenssens.<\/p>\n
A verdict is not expected before a month.<\/p>\n
Often called forever chemicals as they take an extremely long time to break down, PFAS are human-made chemicals that repel heat, water and oil, and are used in nonstick pans, stain-proof carpets, and other products.<\/p>\n
They are increasingly being restricted across the world because of adverse health effects.<\/p>\n
Chronic exposure to even low levels has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birth weights and several kinds of cancer.<\/p>\n
3M told AFP it is currently carrying out a large-scale clean-up operation in Zwijndrecht, following a 2022 agreement with local authorities, under which the firm committed to spending half a billion euros on remediation measures.<\/p>\n
The company, which has also been sued in the United States over its use of PFAS, said it would end all PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
– Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3M said it has not produced PFAS at the plant inaugurated in the 1970s since 2024 and has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[96838,165055,9092,165056,138,1559,12688,2562,1349,6119,15124,49157,71,305,6148,4188,13106,37292,3180,111,139,69,10521,1523,4885,88069,4987,165057,165058,115029,65877,54],"class_list":{"0":"post-300512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-3m","9":"tag-592m","10":"tag-against","11":"tag-belgians","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-called","14":"tag-chemicals","15":"tag-claims","16":"tag-court","17":"tag-faces","18":"tag-fight","19":"tag-forever","20":"tag-from","21":"tag-have","22":"tag-justice","23":"tag-living","24":"tag-maker","25":"tag-multinational","26":"tag-near","27":"tag-new-zealand","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-opening","31":"tag-over","32":"tag-plant","33":"tag-poisoning","34":"tag-pollution","35":"tag-postit","36":"tag-scotch","37":"tag-socalled","38":"tag-tape","39":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}