"Industrial Pollution Is in Your Blood. Is That a Form of Battery?" 24 Feb 2020

Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t fully degrade in the environment, these industrial compounds have been found in air, water, and soil around the globe, and in the bodies of most people. They have been associated with a laundry list of health problems, including cancer, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, and disrupted immune development. And yet, despite a recent surge in the number of studies devoted to PFASs, their health effects are not yet fully understood...

As news of the groundwater contamination spread, hundreds of Belmont residents decided to seek redress in court...In these suits, Belmont residents are going up against a pair of corporate behemoths: Wolverine Worldwide — a global footwear company whose portfolio includes Keds, Saucony, and Merrell — and 3M, the multinational conglomerate that first developed and sold PFASs...

Taken broadly, the Belmont suits join numerous legal claims leveled at both companies. Just last week, in a separate lawsuit filed by the State of Michigan and two townships, Wolverine agreed to a final settlement requiring the company to pay $69.5 million for public water extensions in areas affected by the PFAS contamination. And in a suit filed by Wolverine against 3M, the Minnesota company agreed to contribute $55 million to the water extension effort. Additionally, 3M is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Michigan’s attorney general against 17 chemical companies allegedly responsible for PFAS contamination across the state...

These realties are partly behind a novel legal approach that Varnum attorneys attempted on behalf of their clients with contaminated drinking water. When Varnum filed its lawsuits against Wolverine and 3M, the complaints included at least a dozen claims, such as negligence and nuisance. In addition, some suits included a claim called “toxic battery.”...

When a person’s body is “involuntarily invaded by particles of a toxic substance, her or his bodily integrity is compromised,” they wrote, “and individual autonomy is violated.” Further, they argued, environmental exposure to industrial chemicals is “involuntary experimentation on a grand scale,” and there are already legal precedents for treating this as battery.