The multibillion-dollar chemical compounds firm 3M informed prospects its firefighting foams had been innocent and biodegradable when it knew they contained poisonous substances so persistent they’re now often known as “forever chemicals” and banned in lots of international locations together with the UK, newly uncovered paperwork present.
From the Sixties till 2003, 3M made foams containing PFOS and PFOA (perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid), artificial chemical compounds that may take tens of 1000’s of years to degrade within the atmosphere and have been linked to cancers and a variety of different well being issues comparable to thyroid illness, excessive ldl cholesterol, hormonal issues and fertility points.
Air pollution from these substances in soils and water is now widespread throughout the globe, and has been detected in animals, human organs and blood. They’re a part of a wider household of greater than 15,000 chemical compounds often known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) however popularly referred to as “forever chemicals”.
Consultants have described PFAS air pollution as “one of the greatest threats facing mankind”. Final yr, 59 main scientists signed an open letter to the UK authorities urging it to impose stricter laws on the substances.
Paperwork uncovered by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian reveal that proof exhibiting PFOS doesn’t biodegrade had begun to seem as early as 1949. Nevertheless, till the Nineties 3M continued to supply info and brochures for patrons stating that pure processes would break down the foams.
Brochures for 3M firefighting foams dated 1979 described them as being “environmentally neutral” in addition to “biodegradable, low in toxicity, and … can be treated in biological treatment systems”.
In a 1986 doc, 3M acknowledged that “if 3M Light Water Brand aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) products were pure chemicals instead of mixtures, OECD guidelines would classify them as ‘readily biodegradable’”. Knowledge sheets from 1993 nonetheless beneficial that the foams be discharged to sewers as a result of they had been “treatable in a biological wastewater treatment system”, though they famous that some components would possibly stay in handled wastewater.
Prof Ian Cousins from Stockholm College, a number one PFAS knowledgeable, mentioned: “Disposing of the foams in a sewer was disastrous as the PFAS went straight through the wastewater treatment process, either ending up in the effluent from the wastewater treatment plant or in the sludge. The effluent was discharged into rivers and the sludge would often be spread on agricultural land.”
3M made the claims regardless of proof of PFAS’ nonbiodegradable properties having grown since 1949, when an article in Scientific American famous that fluorocarbons, which embrace all PFAS chemical compounds, “do not burn, corrode, mold or decay. Neither rodents nor insects nor fungi can find any nourishment in them.”
In 1964, 3M worker HG Bryce authored a chapter of a e book referred to as Fluorine Chemistry by which he mentioned the fluorocarbon parts of gear had been “physiologically inert” – in different phrases, they don’t biodegrade.
A 3M doc dated 1983 confirmed that PFAS didn’t degrade in lab checks and mentioned this demonstrated that biodegradation “cannot be depended on to occur in an aquatic environment”.
Proof got here to gentle when 3M paid out $890m in settlements in 2018 after the previous Minnesota legal professional normal Lori Swanson filed a lawsuit towards 3M for PFAS air pollution.
In testimony to the US Home of Representatives, Swanson supplied a fax from a fireplace protecting tools agency to 3M dated June 1988. In it, the agency mentioned: “In all literature and documentation that is published by the major manufacturers of AFFFs [and verbal presentations made by manufacturer’s reps] it is claimed that these products are biodegradable … Imagine the surprise and total shock … embarrassment and credibility loss …” at being informed by others that the foams weren’t in any case biodegradable.
3M in 2023 agreed to pay settlements amounting to greater than $10bn over contamination of assorted public consuming water techniques, although it didn’t admit legal responsibility in these instances.
It has beforehand been established that 3M additionally knew sure PFAS had been poisonous early on. Firm assembly minutes dated 1978, which reviewed research on monkeys and rats, acknowledged that PFOS and PFOA “should be regarded as toxic although the degree of toxicity was left undefined”.
Because of 3M offering deceptive info to prospects, untold volumes of the foams could have been misused internationally, contaminating soils, water and other people’s blood with PFAS.
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In 1987, the Australian authorities used 3M’s info to justify spreading firefighting foams on to fields as a way of disposal. Division of Defence paperwork ready for RAAF Tindal, an airbase within the Northern Territory, included 3M’s recommendation stating that the foams had been “biodegradable and have low toxicity”. It beneficial “land treatment” as an “effective and inexpensive method of stabilising AFFF wastewater”.
In 2017, it was found that PFOS from RAAF Tindal had contaminated a consuming water aquifer. The federal government had to offer a brand new water remedy plant able to eradicating PFOS, and urged anybody reliant on non-public boreholes to drink bottled water. The Division of Defence mentioned the associated fee to taxpayers would run into a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. In December, the Australian authorities mentioned it might “establish a national coordinating body to respond to the specific needs of communities impacted by PFAS around defence bases”.
Within the UK, many PFAS air pollution hotspots are linked to websites that used excessive volumes of PFAS foams, comparable to the hearth coaching faculty in Moreton-in-Marsh within the Cotswolds, Angus Hearth in Bentham in Yorkshire, and the Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire, the place a consuming water supply was contaminated. Different hotspots embrace airports, army websites, producers and landfills.
A spokesperson for 3M mentioned: “AFFF was developed in the 1960s to be used by military service members and other first responders facing potentially high hazard, life-threatening challenges. As the science and technology of PFAS, and societal and regulatory expectations have evolved, so has how we manage PFAS.”
In 2000, 3M introduced it might part out sure PFAS chemistries used within the manufacturing of merchandise comparable to AFFF, together with PFOS and PFOA. 3M says it has “long since phased both materials out of its operations and also permanently discontinued production of AFFF”.
3M introduced in 2022 it “would exit all PFAS manufacturing globally by the end of 2025 and are on schedule to do so. We will continue working to innovate new solutions for our customers. We have engaged in site remediation at our facilities and have invested in state-of-the-art water treatment technologies at sites where we have historically manufactured PFAS.”
The corporate says it’s “committed to these actions in partnership with leading scientists, community advisers, and government authorities”.
Regardless of 3M’s actions and the widespread concern over PFAS, using foams containing PFOS was not banned within the UK till 2011, and foams containing PFOA won’t be absolutely restricted till July 2025. Foams containing different kinds of PFAS are nonetheless in use.
A UK authorities spokesperson mentioned: “PFAS chemicals have been used extensively for over 70 years and their persistence once in the environment unfortunately means there are no quick fixes. We have already begun investigating whether to restrict PFAS in firefighting foams and will set out more detail in due course.”
