How a single farmer's dying cattle exposed a global chemical cover-up
In short: In 1998, a West Virginia farmer noticed his cows were dying with blackened teeth and bloated organs. What began as a local investigation into cattle deaths spiraled into a twenty-year legal war against DuPont, revealing how 'forever chemicals' had been secretly contaminating the environment for decades.
The 2019 film *Dark Waters* dramatizes the real-life crusade of attorney Robert Bilott. The legal battle began when Wilbur Tennant, a farmer and friend of Bilott's grandmother, presented evidence of unusual medical conditions in his dairy cattle, including tumors and blackened teeth. Bilott's investigation eventually uncovered that DuPont had been dumping tons of toxic sludge into a landfill near Tennant's farm, contaminating the local water supply with PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid).
PFOA, a key component in manufacturing Teflon, belongs to a class of substances known as 'forever chemicals' because they accumulate in the bloodstream and do not degrade. While DuPont's internal studies dating back to the 1970s and 1981 had linked the chemical to cancer and congenital disabilities, the company kept these findings private. During the litigation, Bilott discovered that the concentration of PFOA in local water was six times higher than the 1 part per billion safety threshold established in DuPont's own documents.
The legal struggle was immense. DuPont attempted to bypass accountability by sending a deceptive letter to residents to trigger the statute of limitations. Despite facing financial strain and personal health battles, Bilott pursued a massive class-action lawsuit. While a science panel eventually linked PFOA to two types of cancer and four other diseases, DuPont initially withdrew from its mediation agreement. Ultimately, the company settled remaining cases for $671 million, a sum split between DuPont and Chemours.
The film's release in late 2019 coincided with significant corporate shifts. Following the DowDuPont breakup, the new DuPont company saw its stock price drop by 7.15 points on the day of the film's release. While the film received critical acclaim, with an 89% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, DuPont executives argued the movie misconstrued the facts to cast the corporation as a villain.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Dark Waters (2019 film)
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