News Coverage
3M lawsuit draws a crowd
Suit claims chemicals cause cancer
Published September 25, 2004
Hundreds of sweaty people stood in the 87-degree heat Friday, hoping for a chance to join a lawsuit against 3M Co. Many held umbrellas to protect them from the sun.
More than 150 people wait in line Friday with hopes of joining lawsuit against 3M Co. The line went along the front of the law firm of Edwards Mitchell and Reeves, around the corner of the building, and about 30 yards west on Lee Street. Similar numbers of people congregated at the law office Thursday.
At issue is a family of synthetic chemicals used in the manufacture of Teflon and previously used in 3M's Scotchgard and many other nonstick and stain-resistant products. According to some experts, these sulfonated perfluorochemicals, called PFCs, cause cancer.
Suit filed Sept. 10
The rush to counsel stemmed from a lawsuit filed Sept. 10 by three Decatur residents. The Montgomery firm that represents the trio hopes to convert the case into a class action that, according to its complaint, could include thousands of people.
Greg Reeves said his Decatur firm is assisting Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles in pursuing the claim. Beyond that, he refused comment.
Vanessa Chandler, Woodrow Johnson and Stanley Martin are the named plaintiffs in the suit. In their complaint against 3M and several of its officers, the Decatur residents claim environmental tests performed last month revealed high levels of PFCs in their soil. All live near the 3M plant on State Docks Road in Northwest Decatur. The plant is about 11⁄2 miles from Leon Sheffield Elementary School.
The plaintiffs alleged the presence of the chemical has damaged the value of their property. They claimed their fear of the possible health effects of the chemical caused them emotional distress.
The chemical, according to the complaint, causes liver problems, testicular tumors, breast tumors, prostate problems, birth defects and reproductive problems.
3M's site manager in Decatur, Jim Fincher, denied the allegations.
"We believe the lawsuit is totally without merit. It misstates thousands of pages of research on the chemicals," Fincher said.
3M periodically tested employees for presence of the two related chemicals it produced, PFOS and PFOA. 3M's Decatur plant discontinued production of the chemicals in 2000 because, according to Fincher, the company discovered the molecules do not break down in the environment.
"Why did we choose to exit? Because 3M values the environment," Fincher said.
The plaintiffs claim 3M stopped making the chemical because it knew it was toxic. 3M knew it was "potentially hazardous to humans" by the late 1970s, according to the lawsuit.
Fincher said the chemical is not hazardous to humans.
"We have 40 years of experience with this, and we have never seen an adverse health effect," said Fincher, who came to the Decatur plant after production of PFOA and PFOS ended.
Fincher said 3M's concerns about the product led it to contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency more than a decade ago. But for 3M's openness, Fincher said, the lawyers would never have known enough about the chemicals to file the suit.
"We have been very open on this. We have conducted extensive research," Fincher said.
"We have a good reputation here," he continued. "We live here. I'm going to a ballgame tonight. I don't like having to worry about what everyone is thinking about me."
Fincher said he planned to meet with employees Friday so they would not be surprised when THE DAILY reported on the case.
'We will win'
"This is going to court, and we will win," Fincher said.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs refused comment.
As early as 1976, 3M began monitoring PFC levels in its Decatur employees, according to documents it filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 1979, according to another document filed with the EPA, 3M discovered PFCs in four fish caught in the Tennessee River.
According to the lawsuit, 3M transferred 13 female workers of childbearing age from the plant when tests revealed PFCs in their blood in the 1980s.
Fincher said 3M transferred the workers as a result of an erroneous test. Once the company realized the test results were wrong, he said, the women returned to the plant.
In a 1997 study, 3M scientists endeavored to compare PFC levels of its employees with those of the general population by examining blood from blood banks. They discovered the chemical in blood banks, even in blood collected far from any PFC manufacturer.
In 1999, 3M scientists conducted tests that documented the accumulation of PFCs on an apple in Kroger, and in water samples taken from Riverwalk Marina on Wheeler Lake and from Flint Creek. They also discovered the chemical - which does not occur naturally - in regions that had no PFC plants.
When 3M quit making PFCs, its primary customer, DuPont, began making the chemical itself for use in its Teflon products. Earlier this month, DuPont settled a class-action lawsuit in West Virginia. The class will receive $85 million, the lawyers will receive $22.6 million and DuPont must initiate a monitoring program. The lawsuit alleged PFC contamination in drinking water.
Chemicals that degrade into PFCs are often used in food containers - including fast-food wrappers, french fry containers, Chinese food containers, candy wrappers and microwave popcorn bags - because the chemicals prevent escape of the liquids.
A contingency fee contract obtained by THE DAILY said the Decatur lawyers would receive 40 percent of any settlement or judgment.
The lawyers filed the suit in the Morgan County Circuit Court. The court has not set a trial date.