PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office is suing several chemical companies, accusing them of playing a role in contaminating soil and drinking water.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the companies in question — 3M, DuPont and Chemours — made products using a family of chemicals called PFAS.
“These are manufactured substances that have been in a variety of consumer products going back to the 1940s. The chemical companies that have produced them have known since the 1960s that they have detrimental health effects,” he said, “knowing that they would last forever in our bodies, our drinking water, and places where firefighting foam, for example, was used.”
Products like food containers, carpets and non-stick cookware can contain PFAS, but Stollsteimer said their main focus has been on firefighting foam. County officials found contamination at an Upper Darby fire station, a Haverford Township fire training center and a Sharon Hill emergency training center.
“What we’re doing simply in this action is to hold the companies accountable,” he said. “The first step is to say you have to help us, come in here and mediate the damage we know you caused.”
PFAS has been linked to health issues like kidney cancer, thyroid disease and high cholesterol. Although researchers are continuing to study the effects of the chemicals, there haven’t been definitive findings.
“Our hearts are breaking for the firefighters who think they might have been exposed to this,” Stollsteimer added. “Unfortunately at this point, what we can do is just hold the companies accountable to remediate the facilities right now.”
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Pennsylvania’s consumer protection statute law allows not only the attorney general but also county district attorneys to go after companies that have committed unfair trade practices. As such, Delaware County is not alone in taking legal action.
Water services company Aqua Pennsylvania is also suing the manufacturers on similar grounds. The case was initially filed in Montgomery County but has since moved to federal court.
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KYW Newsradio reached out to the three companies named specifically by the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office. 3M replied, saying it “acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship.”
DuPont spokesperson Daniel Turner said DuPont never made the firefighting foams in question. He said the company — currently known as DuPont, officially DuPont de Nemours — is not the company that was historically known as DuPont. That company, he said, was E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
In 2015, Turner said the business handling chemicals was spun off to Chemours.
“This complaint is the latest example of DuPont being improperly named in litigation, and we look forward to vigorously defending our position,” he said.
Chemours did not send an immediate response.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the most recent statements from the companies mentioned in the lawsuit.