Australia has filed a record-breaking lawsuit against 3M over contamination by PFAS "forever chemicals"
The Australian government has filed a lawsuit against the American company 3M, accusing it of widespread environmental contamination with PFAS substances, known as “forever chemicals.”
This was reported by Reuters.
Australia is seeking more than 2 billion Australian dollars (about 1.43 billion U.S. dollars) in compensation. According to the government, this is the largest lawsuit in the country’s history.
According to Attorney General Michelle Rowland, the lawsuit covers current and future costs of cleaning up the pollution, as well as environmental and economic damages.
“The Commonwealth is seeking more than 2 billion Australian dollars in compensation to cover significant past and future costs associated with investigating and remediating the contamination,” she said.
The government claims that the firefighting foam used at 28 military bases contained PFAS, and that the company allegedly assured its safety despite existing internal studies on environmental risks.
3M stated that it would defend itself in court, emphasizing that it did not manufacture PFAS in Australia and stopped selling these products about 20 years ago.
The company also claims that even after that, the Australian Department of Defense continued to use PFAS-containing foam for nearly two more decades.
PFAS is a group of synthetic chemicals that do not break down in nature, causing them to accumulate in water, soil, and the human body. Studies link them to a range of health risks, including liver damage and cancer.
According to government data, more than 1.3 billion Australian dollars have already been spent on cleaning up the contamination, and hundreds of thousands of tons of soil and billions of liters of water have been treated.
Earlier, four leading U.S. technology companies filed a motion to dismiss lawsuits brought by five Ukrainian citizens who accuse them of involvement in the use of microchips in Russian missiles. The plaintiffs claim that components from these companies could have been used by Russia to strike civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. At the same time, the corporations deny any liability in these cases.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Amazon in the U.S. over the company’s refusal to reimburse consumers for additional costs incurred due to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
