3M's support for PFAS could cost taxpayers billions of dollars

Sep 13, 20210

Caroline Gutman, Special to the Star Tribune count

Joanne Stanton collected water from a tap inside a well water treatment facility in Horsham, Pa., in July. The water samples will be used to test for PFAS and other contaminants. Hundreds of PFAS hot spots like those in the east metro stretch across the U.S.

Members of a 3M committee at headquarters in Maplewood had two big questions to answer in spring of 1978.

Did studies showing PFAS chemicals were more toxic to animals than 3M thought pose risks to public health and the environment? Or did research that PFAS were collecting in the bodies of 3M workers pose risks to public health and the environment?

If the answer to either or both questions was yes, the 3M Fluorochemicals Technical Review Committee knew it was required to tell the federal government about those risks within 15 days. Instead, confidential meeting minutes show, committee members decided the evidence wasn't strong enough to warn the government or the public.

https://www.startribune.com/3m-s-support-for-pfas-could-cost-taxpayers-billions-of-dollars/600096094/