12/12/2024

Texas AG Ken Paxton Sues 3M, Dupont for Deceptive Advertising of ‘Forever Chemicals’

Houston Chronicle | Taylor Goldenstein | Dec. 11, 2024

Texas AG Ken Paxton Sues 3M, Dupont for Deceptive Advertising of ‘Forever Chemicals’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing 3M and DuPont, some of the largest manufacturers of so-called “forever chemicals,” claiming they violated this state’s deceptive trade practice law by failing to disclose the chemicals’ health risks and environmental harms.

With the suit, filed Wednesday in state court, Paxton joins several other states that have sued over the chemicals, known as PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Those include California, Illinois, North Carolina, Wisconsin.

“These companies knew for decades that PFAS chemicals could cause serious harm to human health yet continued to advertise them as safe for household use around families and children,” Paxton said in a statement. “Texas is taking action to penalize these companies and hold them accountable for deceiving Texans into buying consumer products without vital information.”

3M did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company earlier this year agreed to a more than $10 billion settlement with drinking water providers over its use of the chemicals, which don’t degrade naturally in the environment. PFAS chemicals, found in everything from food packaging to clothing, have been linked to liver and immune-system damage and some cancers, among other health problems.

The lawsuit alleges the companies marketed products containing PFAS chemicals for over 70 years despite knowing about the harmful effects for the majority of that time.

“For decades, advertisements included images of family home life in and around these products, were marketed to women cooking for their families, and specifically promoted thevalue of the products for households with children and pets,” the suit reads. “These advertisements did not disclose material information regarding the harms of the chemicals, and through the context and claims of the advertisements, misrepresented their safety for household and family use.”

DuPont has claimed in court filings that it cannot be held liable because of a corporate restructuring in recent years. At least one judge in North Carolina has disagreed with that argument.

The new DuPont entity, DuPont de Nemours, created in 2019, “has never manufactured PFOA or PFOS,” said a DuPont spokesman Daniel A. Turner. Both that entity and older entities are named as defendants in Paxton’s suit. Turner did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the older entities have manufactured the chemicals.

This year, the Biden administration finalized strict limits on the chemicals in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level they can be reliably measured. Officials say this will reduce exposure for 100 million people and help prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancers.

A peer-reviewed study by Natural Resources Defense Council scientists published this spring found PFAS in Houston-area tap water samples. Multiple Houston sites tested by NRDC had “very high levels” — over 40 parts per trillion — of a variety of PFAS, said researcher Katherine E. Pelch, though the combination would not exceed new proposed federal caps.

Forty-nine public water utility systems reported surpassing the federal limits, according to the Texas Tribune.

Paxton had already previously sued the manufacturers of a fire suppressant product containing PFAS called Aqueous Film Forming Foam for its harmful effect on Texas lands and waters.

The Associated Press and Houston Chronicle reporter Rebekah F. Ward, contributed to this report.