Delaware Joins The List Of States Suing 3M For Funds To Cleanup AFFF Soil Pollution

Removing PFAS chemicals completely from the environment is critical to eventually cleaning the water

Sunday, November 19, 2023 - The injuries caused by using firefighting foam are not limited to the cancer that has plagued thousands of the nation's firefighting heroes. The land around our nation's military bases, airports, and thousands of municipal firefighting stations that train with AFFF has absorbed the toxic PFAS forever chemicals and is permanently polluted. Millions of polluted acres will be leaching the deadly toxins into lakes, rivers, and streams that feed the tap water supplies to towns and cities from coast to coast. More insidious even, the rainwater from clouds that develop from evaporation from these water sources is contaminated with deadly PFAS chemicals. There seems to be no hope of preventing humans and all animal life for that matter from becoming contaminated with PFAS chemical toxins and eventually developing cancer.

Municipalities are filing AFFF lawsuits against 3M, DuPont, and about a dozen other companies for causing the water contamination debacle humanity faces. State Attorney Generals are suing these companies to force them to fund soil remediation efforts since cleaning the water supply is not enough. According to DelawareBusinessTimes.com, " Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings sued 14 companies, including multinational conglomerate 3M Company, last week over their production of specialized firefighting foam that contained so-called "forever chemicals" that have allegedly leached into soils and aquifers here. The First State becomes the latest in the nation to sue companies over aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), a product widely used at airports and military bases. While water has long been used to extinguish fires, it is ineffective in some cases, including oil fires. Firefighting foams were first developed in 1902 and have long been used at airports where plane crashes would produce oil fires. The latest case was filed against 3M, Tyco Fire Products, Chemguard, Buckeye Fire Equipment, Arkema, BASF, Clariant, Archroma U.S., Dynax, AGC Chemicals Americas, Daikin America, ChemDesign Products, Chemicals Inc., and Deepwater Chemicals." Unless the soil through which rainwater drains is cleaned, water supplies will just re-pollute immediately. 3M has set aside more than $10 billion to fund state and municipal soil remediation efforts.

In addition to environmental concerns, studies have linked PFAS forever chemicals found in AFFF firefighting foam to military personnel having a higher likelihood of developing testicular cancer and other serious illnesses. The Chicago-SunTimes.com tells readers, " Studies have shown that firefighters -- military and civilian -- have been diagnosed with testicular cancer at higher rates than people in most occupations, often pointing to the presence in the foam of perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS." Thousands of AFFF cancer lawsuits are expected to be filed in 2024 and beyond as first responders make the connection between their service as a firefighter, using AFFF and wearing PFAS-contaminated turnout gear, and developing cancer at an unusually early age. Gary Flock developed testicular cancer according to the CST in 2000 at the young age of 45. He served as a firefighter and used firefighting foam thought to be as safe as dishwashing liquid regularly.

Information provided by AFFFLawsuitCenter.com, a website devoted to providing news about AFFF and PFAS cancer, lymphoma and leukaemia claims, including a free no-cost, no-obligation AFFF Lawsuit Claim.