3M's Historic $10 Billion 'Forever Chemical' Payout Is Just The Tip of the PFAS Iceberg

By Jeffrey Kluger | TIME | June 23, 2023

Read the full article by Jeffrey Kluger (TIME)

"If you’re like 200 million other Americans, when you turned on your tap today you consumed water contaminated with PFAS—short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, but better known as “forever chemicals” because that’s about how long they linger in the environment.

A class of nearly 12,000 manufacturing chemicals, PFAS have been detected in water supplies nationwide, and have been linked to a range of health ills, including decreased fertility, high blood pressure in pregnant people, increased risk of certain cancers, developmental delays and low birthweight in children, hormonal disruption, and reduced effectiveness of the immune system. In the U.S., DuPont and 3M have historically been the leading manufacturers of PFAS—and both companies currently face about 4,000 lawsuits by states and municipalities seeking compensation for the cost of cleaning up their land and water supplies.

Yesterday, 3M got out from under some of that legal trouble, agreeing to pay $10.3 billion to at least 300 plaintiff communities. Those 300 were included in a lawsuit brought by the city of Stuart, Fla., in a case being heard as part of what is known as multidistrict litigation (MDL), consolidated for trial in the United States District Court in South Carolina. Earlier this month, lawyers for 3M, Stuart, and the other communities in the lawsuit entered settlement negotiations and asked Judge Richard Gergel for time to continue talks before the trial began. Gergel gave them 21 days and the deal announced yesterday came in just under the wire."