DuPont Corporation is the issue folks! So in a HuffPost Highline investigation, Mariah Blake takes a look in the 1940s. Especially at how back then, DuPont Corporation built the Washington Works Plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. It’s a facility that was to become one of the chief production sites of the revolutionary non-stick material Teflon. Almost immediately it became clear to DuPont Corporation officials that C8, a soapy chemical that gives Teflon its nonstick quality, was toxic. Yes folks and even most importantly: deadly.
For decades, DuPont engaged in an increasingly elaborate cover-up of the toxicity of C8. In that time, Parkersburg residents who drank the water and hunted the game around Washington Works started getting really, really sick. I’m talking testicular cancer in teenagers, hive breakouts for shower water, and massive congenital deformities. All became nothing but commonplace. However the people of the town fought back. Because in September 2015, the first of more than 3,500 lawsuits claiming damages against DuPont Corporation for C8 poisoning began. So Reporter Mariah Blake went to Parkersburg to meet with many of the plaintiffs. All through this consequently she weaves a history of the C8 dumping by DuPont Corporation in Parkersburg. It’s the long and arduous journey through the courts, and the miles-deep indifference. In conclusion and in some cases complicity; of the environmental regulators we pay our taxes to fund.
I wrote in another story about a book called Plastic: A Toxic Love Story:
All Americans now carry traces of dozens of synthetic chemicals in their bodies. That’s including fire retardants, bactericides, pesticides, plasticizers and solvents. Also heavy metals, waterproofing agents, stain repellents, Teflon and other compounds. So even newborns harbor chemicals. On average 200, according to one study. In some cases thanks to DuPont Corporation!
Finally, the full story here:
In addition and accompanying the story are video shorts. All shot by Emily Kassie and starring the plaintiffs themselves.
Ken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpzb9e-2sq4
Bucky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX_iisQ0vic
Source: https://theintercept.com
