2023-06-23 05:33:16
The American group 3M has entered into an agreement providing for the payment of between 10.5 and 12.5 billion dollars to settle legal proceedings initiated in the United States for the contamination of drinking water by PFAS, chemical compounds called “ eternal pollutants”.
The agreement, which must still be validated by a judge, provides for the payment of sums spread over 13 years, between 2024 and 2036, according to a stock exchange document.
The money is to be used to fund treatment technologies for water systems that have tested positive for PFAS, either in the past or in the future, as well as to pay for future testing.
The total amount of the payments will depend on any negative tests.
“3M does not admit any liability or wrongdoing”
The agreement, made public in a stock market filing, also includes the idea “that 3M does not admit any liability or wrongdoing.”
The group recorded for the occasion a charge of 10.3 billion dollars in its accounts.
“Milestone”
This is an “important step” for 3M, said in a press release its CEO, Mike Roman. The group has already committed to cease all manufacture of PFAS by the end of 2025.
PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances massively present in everyday life – packaging, cosmetics, electronics. They accumulate over time in the air, soil, river water, food and even the human body, and are very little degradable, hence their nickname of “eternal” pollutants.
Last year, 3M and Flanders concluded an agreement to remediate land polluted by the company around its Zwijndrecht site for an amount of 578 million euros.
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