Read the full article by Rebeca Pereira (Concord Monitor)
“ver more than five decades, a single chemical manufacturer enjoyed the exclusive production of a PFAS compound utilized in water-repellent treatments.
Another company manufactured a different compound from this class of ‘forever chemicals’ from 2002 to 2013. By then, it had already been using this compound in its Teflon-branded consumer products for many decades, including the turnout gear used by firefighters to avoid exposure to the hazards of their profession.
Yet another manufacturer used PFAS-containing coatings to produce the fabric that lines firefighters’ protective gear with an inner moisture barrier.
All three businesses — 3M Company, EIDP, Inc. and its DuPont affiliates, and W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. — are named as defendants in a class action lawsuit filed by the city of Keene and the town of Londonderry in federal court on Tuesday. The municipalities argue in their complaint that replacing turnout gear with PFAS-free equipment has come at ‘significant public expense’ and are seeking to recover those costs.”…