Three chemical giants agree to pay more than $1 billion to settle 'forever chemical' claims
Source: CNN Business
New York CNN — The companies Chemours, DuPont and Corteva announced on Friday they have agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle claims that “forever chemicals” contaminated public US water systems.
The family of ubiquitous synthetic chemicals – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS – linger in the environment and the human body, where they can cause serious health problems, and are found in everyday products including fast-food wrappers, makeup and carpeting.
In June, based on the latest science, the EPA issued health advisories that said the chemicals are much more hazardous to human health than scientists originally thought and are probably more dangerous even at levels thousands of times lower than previously believed. The three chemical giants are facing thousands of lawsuits from across the country alleging the toxic chemicals were utilized in manufacturing and then polluted the environment.
In a statement, Dupont said it “has never manufactured PFOA or PFOS.” CNN has reached out to the other companies for comment on the allegations, which they denied in a press release Friday. The three companies said they have agreed to contribute a total of $1.185 billion to a settlement fund. Chemours will contribute 50 percent (about $592 million), and DuPont and Corteva will together contribute the remaining 50 percent, at about $400 million and $193 million, respectively.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/03/business/pfas-chemours-dupont-corteva-settlement/index.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
What a legacy for our children and further descendents 
Some stuff I found from AP -
By JOHN FLESHER yesterday
(snip)
The agreement would settle a case that was scheduled for trial Monday involving a claim by Stuart, Florida, one of about 300 communities that have filed similar suits since 2018 against companies that produced firefighting foam or the PFAS it contained. They are pending in U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina, where Judge Richard Gergel is overseeing thousands of complaints alleging PFAS damages. Among the plaintiffs are water providers, airports, and a number of states and private well owners.
“This agreement represents the first of many steps to begin to redress the harms of PFAS contamination in America’s drinking water supplies,” law firms representing plaintiffs said in a statement.
(snip)
If Judge Gergel approves the deal, he will set a timetable for notifying water providers who might stake claims. They are free to opt out and pursue separate cases, but participants “will get funds to address PFAS contamination right now,” said Carla Pickrel, an attorney whose firm represents about 200 plaintiffs including California Water Service; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
The agreement excludes systems owned by states or the U.S. government and small systems that haven’t detected PFAS and aren’t legally required to monitor for it. It doesn’t settle thousands of cases against other PFAS makers and dealers. Among them are 3M, the primary manufacturer of firefighting foam containing the compounds; Tyco Fire Products; and Chemguard. A trial in Stuart, Florida’s, case against 3M begins Monday.
(snip)
https://apnews.com/article/pfas-forever-chemicals-dupont-drinking-water-82516dfef51da45b389e00fa956cf8c5
like was done with the "Superfund" sites, something like that might happen with those municipalities that had major exposure, and more will be demanded in terms of financial compensation to deal with the problem.
More info on Superfund - https://www.epa.gov/superfund/what-superfund
The acknowledgment of "the (PFAS) problem" is relatively "new" and it will take time to work through what is going to be needed to mitigate it and do detoxification/cleanup.
Look at how long it took to acknowledge the issues of Agent Orange or more recently the "Burn Pits" and finally start to do something about it... 
And as a FYI, I am a (retired) ACS-certified chemist so do know about many of these nasty solvents. In fact, some of my older co-workers used to talk about the "old" days when they cleaned their benches with benzene. 
All of the stuff we did with solvents like that (or ether, etc) was done in a hood.
I've had to use a lot of, should the companies have provided us with rubber gloves?
should have gloves and ventilation.
It's to add to a "fund" to settle one class action case. There are many other cases out there too.
I had posted an article from AP upthread that better described what was going on with this - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3082697
