‘Forever Chemical’ plant in North Carolina violates human rights, UN panel says
A chemical plant’s dumping of contaminated wastewater on the Cape Fear River began more than four decades ago, making river water unsafe to drink for 100 miles.
This week, in response to a petition from community groups in North Carolina, a United Nations panel called the pollution a human rights issue.
The U.N.’s concerns about human rights abuses, the kind of claims Americans may be more accustomed to making against foreign countries, are broadening the scope of a global fight over the harms of what are known as forever chemicals, or by their acronym PFAS. They have been the subject of a years-long dispute over their dangers.
Chemours, the chemical giant that took over the plant in 2015, and DuPont before it, “completely ignores the rights and well-being of residents” along the river, a panel of U.N. human rights experts said.
The pollution continues “even though DuPont and Chemours had information about the toxic effects of PFAS on human health and drinking water,” they said, using the acronym for polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals, many of which are toxic.
Chemours said it is “committed to manufacturing and manufacturing products responsibly in a manner consistent with international principles.” The products the company makes at its plant in Fayetteville, N.C., have contributed to “critical technologies for green hydrogen, electric vehicles and semiconductor manufacturing,” the company said. Chemours is currently pursuing plans to expand its Fayetteville plant.
DuPont has rejected claims that it bears responsibility for the Fayetteville plant, which it spun off as part of a corporate restructuring in 2015.
PFAS are man-made chemicals that companies have used to make a wide range of water- and grease-resistant products, including nonstick cookware, pizza boxes, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, firefighting foam and some cosmetics. They are not broken down naturally, but accumulate in the environment and in the blood and organs of people and animals.
This is evident from research by both chemical companies and academics exposure to PFAS is linked to cancer, liver damage, birth defects and other health problems. A newer type of PFAS, GenX, that Chemours makes at its Fayetteville plant, is designed as a safer alternative to earlier generations of the chemicals. New researchhowever, discover similar health risks.
State regulators have repeatedly fined the Fayetteville plant for exceeding emissions limits, and over the years the Environmental Protection Agency has also issued a series of violations. In 2021, the agency began requiring chemical manufacturers to test and publicly report the amount of PFAS in household items as part of what it calls its activities. PFAS Strategic Roadmapa strategy to protect public health and the environment.
Yet the UN panel, made up of special rapporteurs from the Human Rights Council, said both the EPA and local regulators “have failed in their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses.” That included failing to provide affected North Carolina communities with “the type and amount of information necessary to prevent harm and require recovery,” the panel said.
The EPA declined to comment. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Local environmentalists called on Chemours to halt its expansion in Fayetteville and focus on cleaning up the pollution.
“We still have residents in our region who do not have access to clean, safe drinking water,” said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, which last year petitioned the United Nations to open a human rights investigation.
“We find PFAS along our beaches, in locally grown produce and locally caught fish. It is also in our air and rainwater.” she said. Still, “Chemours wants to expand production and make more PFAS.”