Via America’s Lawyer: Major chemical companies 3M and DuPont have allowed PFAS chemicals to seep into everyday products and waterways. Attorney Madeline Pendley joins Mike Papantonio to explain the history of this dangerous carcinogen, which has become increasingly prevalent across fire departments and airports.
Learn more about PFAS chemicals at https://www.levinlaw.com/pfas-government-lawsuits
Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join
Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire
Find our merchandise at Teespring: https://teespring.com/stores/rof-store
Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content!
Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire
Be sociable! Follow us on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio
Google+: http://plus.google.com/118415831573195648557
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/
Follow more of our stories at http://www.TROFIRE.com
Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
The EPA has known for years, that PFAS chemicals are hazardous to human health and the environment yet industrial giants 3M and DuPont managed to flood our drinking waterways with that product and that toxin. Joining me to talk about this is attorney Madeline Pendley, you know, Madeline, what strikes me is I look at this fellow right here, probably a 3M employee he's in, he's in the Tyvek suit, got gloves on. He's got a mask on. He is set to where if this stuff gets on him, he can save himself.
Right.
You know what the ugly part of it is, this is the same stuff they're putting in our drinking water.
Exactly. He's decked out to protect himself. But when it comes to the rest of us, the firefighters that use this stuff, the people who get it in their drinking water, we're not protected at all. And so to back up a little bit, that term PFAS that you mentioned that actually encompasses a class of thousands of different dangerous chemicals, as you know. So in particular, we're going to be talking about C8 and those chemicals also very dangerous. Interestingly, despite being so dangerous, they were using a ton of different consumer products like Teflon. You're familiar with that. Scotchgard and most recently, what's called AFFF or firefighting foam, which is what we're going to talk about today.
Yeah. What we, what we found in the trial that I tried up in Ohio was that they had tons of experiments to show that it would cause cancer. It would cause birth defects. It would cause a whole issue, a whole line of health problems that they didn't tell the public. Now here's what's important. It's in your drinking water now.
Exactly.
More than likely if you're in a big urban area, this is in your drinking water, there is no safe level. They say, oh, well, you know, there's a, there is no safe level, right?
Right. So they have studies, both 3M and DuPont, going back to the 1950s saying that this stuff, one, builds up in your blood. You know, once it's there, it stays there. They have studies in the 60s, classifying it as a toxin in their internal documents. Didn't tell anybody that. In the 70s they learned it continues to build in your blood. In the 80s, they went so far as to remove their female employees from the factories because they learned that PFOS exposure could harm their unborn children and like you said, cause very serious birth defects. And even in the 90s, they learned that their employees were more at risk for cancer development and death than the general population. But they didn't tell anybody.
Yeah. Well now, DuPont, is the case that I tried in Ohio and the information they had in their files was something they kept secret.
Right.
You know, and, and now we're just catching up. If you were to talk to 10 people and you were to say, what do you know about PFOS or PFAS? They don't even know what you're talking about.
Right.
So the biggest delivery system right now is through, as you point out, AFFF firefighting material, right?
Yes. And so the way that works, it's, it's what you think about they use to put out fires in aircraft fires usually very large, very hot oil based fires. Spray the foam on there, it deprives the flame of oxygen and it does work much more quickly than water would. And so 3M to kind of launch this product had to get a little bit creative, did two main things. One, they pitched this product to the air force at a very vulnerable time for our military branches.
#rof #trofire #theringoffire #progressivenews
Learn more about PFAS chemicals at https://www.levinlaw.com/pfas-government-lawsuits
Become a member today!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYWIEbibRcZav6xMLo9qWWw/join
Support us by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon, and help keep progressive media alive!: https://www.patreon.com/TheRingofFire
Find our merchandise at Teespring: https://teespring.com/stores/rof-store
Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire's video content!
Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theringoffire
Be sociable! Follow us on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio
Google+: http://plus.google.com/118415831573195648557
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffirenetwork/
Follow more of our stories at http://www.TROFIRE.com
Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
The EPA has known for years, that PFAS chemicals are hazardous to human health and the environment yet industrial giants 3M and DuPont managed to flood our drinking waterways with that product and that toxin. Joining me to talk about this is attorney Madeline Pendley, you know, Madeline, what strikes me is I look at this fellow right here, probably a 3M employee he's in, he's in the Tyvek suit, got gloves on. He's got a mask on. He is set to where if this stuff gets on him, he can save himself.
Right.
You know what the ugly part of it is, this is the same stuff they're putting in our drinking water.
Exactly. He's decked out to protect himself. But when it comes to the rest of us, the firefighters that use this stuff, the people who get it in their drinking water, we're not protected at all. And so to back up a little bit, that term PFAS that you mentioned that actually encompasses a class of thousands of different dangerous chemicals, as you know. So in particular, we're going to be talking about C8 and those chemicals also very dangerous. Interestingly, despite being so dangerous, they were using a ton of different consumer products like Teflon. You're familiar with that. Scotchgard and most recently, what's called AFFF or firefighting foam, which is what we're going to talk about today.
Yeah. What we, what we found in the trial that I tried up in Ohio was that they had tons of experiments to show that it would cause cancer. It would cause birth defects. It would cause a whole issue, a whole line of health problems that they didn't tell the public. Now here's what's important. It's in your drinking water now.
Exactly.
More than likely if you're in a big urban area, this is in your drinking water, there is no safe level. They say, oh, well, you know, there's a, there is no safe level, right?
Right. So they have studies, both 3M and DuPont, going back to the 1950s saying that this stuff, one, builds up in your blood. You know, once it's there, it stays there. They have studies in the 60s, classifying it as a toxin in their internal documents. Didn't tell anybody that. In the 70s they learned it continues to build in your blood. In the 80s, they went so far as to remove their female employees from the factories because they learned that PFOS exposure could harm their unborn children and like you said, cause very serious birth defects. And even in the 90s, they learned that their employees were more at risk for cancer development and death than the general population. But they didn't tell anybody.
Yeah. Well now, DuPont, is the case that I tried in Ohio and the information they had in their files was something they kept secret.
Right.
You know, and, and now we're just catching up. If you were to talk to 10 people and you were to say, what do you know about PFOS or PFAS? They don't even know what you're talking about.
Right.
So the biggest delivery system right now is through, as you point out, AFFF firefighting material, right?
Yes. And so the way that works, it's, it's what you think about they use to put out fires in aircraft fires usually very large, very hot oil based fires. Spray the foam on there, it deprives the flame of oxygen and it does work much more quickly than water would. And so 3M to kind of launch this product had to get a little bit creative, did two main things. One, they pitched this product to the air force at a very vulnerable time for our military branches.
#rof #trofire #theringoffire #progressivenews
