“ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Ashlee Naffziger keeps a string of beads in a memory box for her son, Hunter…

Hunter is among three people named in lawsuits alleging that Wolverine Worldwide’s growing PFAS crisis killed them. The others include Sandy Wynn-Stelt’s husband, Joel, who was 61 years old when he died from liver cancer 1.5 years ago. He drank water from one of the most contaminated wells near Wolverine’s old House Street dump.

The third was the wife of a man who lives in Belmont. Details on that case were not available.

Target 8 dug through 79 lawsuits filed in Kent County Circuit Court against Wolverine. Also among the allegations:

  • PFAS led to diseases or other illnesses that sickened 59 people in contamination zones in Plainfield and Algoma townships.
  • PFAS caused nine miscarriages, six cases of cancer, other tumors, thyroid and kidney problems, high cholesterol and more…

Dr. Paul Brooks, who led a study of 69,000 people after a PFAS crisis in West Virginia, said he wasn’t surprised by the alleged illnesses in Kent County. It was his study that found links between PFAS and six diseases. The PFAS levels in West Michigan, he said, are much higher than they were in West Virginia.”

Read the full article by Ken Kolker.