The Lawyer Who Fought Dupont's Pollution For 20 Yrs & Inspired the Film 'Dark Waters'

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Sat Jan 25, 2020, 06:54 PM - Edit history (3)

Truthout, Jan. 23, 2020, Democracy Now!



The new film “Dark Waters” tells the story of attorney Rob Bilott’s 20-year battle with DuPont over contaminated drinking water in West Virginia from toxic chemicals used to make Teflon.
The Environmental Working Group credited Billot with “uncovering the most heinous corporate environmental conspiracy in history,” and the issue of contaminated water from the plastics industry continues to devastate areas across the country.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Working Group released a shocking report about how toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS have been found in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities, including major metropolitan areas including Miami, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. The so-called forever chemicals are linked to cancer, high cholesterol and decreased fertility, and they do not break down in the environment.

We speak with attorney Robert Bilott, who has just published a new book titled Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont. He is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the Hollywood film Dark Waters. We’re also joined by Tim Robbins, Academy Award-winning actor and director, who plays Bilott’s boss at his law firm in Dark Waters.

TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Tim?

TIM ROBBINS: Well, I wanted to mention where we’re going to be on...

AMY GOODMAN: That’s the trailer for Dark Waters, based on the work of attorney Rob Bilott, who’s joining us now from Los Angeles. He won the Right Livelihood Award in 2017. He’s just published a new book. It’s called Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont. Still with us, director and actor Tim Robbins, who’s one of the stars of the film Dark Waters...

More & Video, https://truthout.org/video/meet-the-lawyer-whose-20-year-fight-against-dupont-inspired-dark-waters/

Part 2, Interview, https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/23/poisoned_water_corporate_greed_attorney_robert

Review, 'Dark Waters,' The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/11/dark-waters-review-mark-ruffalo-robert-bilott/602434/

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*Environmental Working Group: Report On Drinking Water In 43 US Cities W/ PFAS, Chemicals Used For Teflon. 1/20

..PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because once released into the environment they do not break down, and they build up in our blood and organs. Exposure to PFAS increases the risk of cancer, harms the development of the fetus and reduces the effectiveness of vaccines. Biomonitoring studies by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the blood of nearly all Americans is contaminated with PFAS.

The most notorious PFAS compounds are PFOA, formerly used by DuPont to make Teflon, and PFOS, formerly an ingredient in 3M’s Scotchgard. Those compounds have been phased out under pressure from the EPA, but they persist in drinking water, people and the environment. In EWG’s tests, PFOA was detected in 30 of 44 samples, and PFOS in 34 samples. The two compounds represented approximately a quarter of the total PFAS level in each sample...

Read More, https://www.ewg.org/research/national-pfas-testing/

- Water contamination with PFAS is widespread; what you should know from EWG/Environmental Working Group.

[dewsgirl]

1. That movie was great.

[appalachiablue]

2. I want to see it; those PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' used to make Teflon are in

the drinking water system of dozens of US cities as noted in the report from the EWG/Environmental Working Group added above.

[dewsgirl]

3. I learned what PFAS about them from the movie, I always

just assumed Teflon, it's shocking all of the everyday items these chemicals affect/affected. Some of the characters in the movie, are the actual people from Parkersburg, WV and poisoned by DuPont.

[appalachiablue]

4. The stuff is in everything & all over the world. DuPont & 3M

have been very busy for 70+ years.

Some of the people in the film are quite 'authentic,' glad they used locals. I grew up not far away.

[cilla4progress]

5. Bookmarked.

Thanks.

[mopinko]

6. pet bird owners have been screaming about this stuff for decades.

trying to find small appliance w/o that shit is all but impossible. lots of us have old waffle irons from the thrift store.
the trend to put it in everything seems to have slacked off, tho i am not in that community much any more.

but for a while there they were trying to sell clothes coated w it, and the most insane one- toilet bowl cleaner. sure, lets put it straight in the water supply.

we didnt know everything, but we knew they were lying. and we had the dead pets to prove it.

[appalachiablue]

7. was it the bird cages?

[mopinko]

8. no. it was pans and small cooking appliances.

they always insisted it was stable to 500º, and that it didnt outgas below that.
it was bullshit. flat out bullshit, but also, if it was scratched or worn, it outgassed at much lower temps.
the birds would keel over dead. and necropsies clearly showed fume damage to the lungs.

i knew someone online who had a little rotisserie that she has used a hundred times, but one night it sent out fumes that caught a little draft, went upstairs, and knocked her gray on his ass. he survived w pneumonia. most dont.

when they started putting it on clothes, w/o revealing what it was, little birds were landing on shoulders and dropping to the floor.

when people started looking into it, they found reports of horrific birth defects among workers and locals. and they started making it very hard to know if it was used, and stopped calling it teflon. they are just now coming out w non-stick pans w/o it.


i sorta cant believe we still dont have a grip on this. but then i do.

[eyeofnewt]

9. The Devil We Know

Is the documentary (Netflix) that was made about the water contamination by DuPont and was excellent (I think I posted this somewhere before). It was presented from the local citizens perspective, whereas the movie approached it from the legal perspective. The details about the cancer cases and other medical problems in the documentary are heartbreaking. Another one that should be required viewing for students, imo.

[appalachiablue]

10. Thanks! I'll post this trailer around DU & look for the film online.

[arachadillo]

11. Dark Waters

It was a good movie. I'm a fan of environment movies