New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing several of the nation’s largest chemical and agricultural companies. The lawsuit, filed this week, targets 3M, DuPont, The Chemours Co. Inc. and Corteva Inc. for polluting the state with toxic chemicals.
These substances are called PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” They do not break down naturally. Because of this, they build up in the environment and human bodies over decades, the lawsuit alleges.
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The state’s attorney general’s office had assistance in the case from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Department of Health.
State officials claim these corporations knew about the extreme dangers. However, they kept selling the chemicals anyway. PFAS went into everyday consumer goods like non-stick cookware, cosmetics and waterproof clothing. The state says companies hid critical health data from the public. For example, DuPont allegedly noticed birth defects in workers’ babies during the 1980s. They buried the study, according to the lawsuit.
“Big companies like 3M and DuPont knowingly sold toxic products that threatened New Yorkers’ health and polluted our environment for decades. It’s time for them to pay for the damage they caused,” said Attorney General James in a statement. “For far too long, our communities have unfairly shouldered the costs of protecting people from these toxic forever chemicals and cleaning up their contamination. I look forward to ensuring the companies responsible for PFAS pollution are held accountable.”
The companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to a media request for comment.
The pollution has caused widespread harm. Exposure to these forever chemicals is linked to cancer, birth defects and high cholesterol. New York argues that the corporations violated consumer protection laws by lying about safety. They made billions in profits. Meanwhile, regular citizens suffered the consequences. The companies even replaced phased-out chemicals with other dangerous compounds to keep making money.
In the 74-page lawsuit, the attorney general stated that the use of the defendants’ PFAS in consumer products also led to widespread environmental contamination. “Substantial quantities of PFAS have been released into residential drains and sewage systems through everyday activities, such as when consumers wash household fabrics or other surfaces treated with PFAS, or when they use personal care products containing PFAS,” the lawsuit stated. “Similarly, PFAS have been widely released into the environment through the disposal of consumer products containing PFAS in landfills.”
Now, the state wants justice. The lawsuit asks a judge to force these companies to pay for massive environmental cleanup efforts across New York. James is also seeking heavy financial penalties and restitution. She wants strict warning labels on any future products. This legal battle aims to hold them fully accountable for harming public health.
Lawsuits against major chemical and manufacturing corporations over PFAS have grown into one of the largest environmental mass torts in U.S. history. Over the years, thousands of water districts, state governments and individual citizens have filed claims against corporate giants like 3M, DuPont and BASF, alleging they knowingly sold products that caused extensive groundwater contamination, cancer and other chronic illnesses.
The litigation is broadly structured into distinct legal pathways, primarily dividing property damage and cleanup cost claims brought by public municipal water systems from personal injury claims brought by individuals, such as firefighters and private well owners, who suffered long-term occupational or environmental exposure.
According to media reports, billions of dollars are actively being distributed to municipal water providers following landmark global settlements totaling over $14 billion with major manufacturers.
However, the personal injury segment of the multidistrict litigation remains wide open and unresolved. The federal docket has swelled to more than 23,000 active lawsuits, and while court-ordered discovery pools have targeted specific conditions like kidney and testicular cancer, no global personal injury settlement exists. This is leaving claimants waiting for rescheduled bellwether trials to establish the value of individual verdicts.
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