Dark Waters

.It all begins when rancher Wilbur Tennant asks Bilott to investigate a worrying onset of tumors and malformations in his cattle in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Tennant suspects that these anomalies are linked to DuPont's activities on land adjacent to his farm, handing Bilott a large container of video cassettes as evidence.

When Bilott visits the Tennant farm, he finds that 190 head of cattle have died due to unusual medical conditions, such as swollen organs, blackened teeth, and tumors. DuPont lawyer Phil Donnelly pretends to be unaware of the case. Bilott decides to file a small lawsuit to obtain information through legal discovery about the chemicals dumped at the site.

Finding that the EPA reports contain nothing useful, Bilott realizes that the chemicals may not be regulated. DuPont attempts to bury the evidence by sending hundreds of boxes of documents, but Bilott finds numerous references to PFOA, a chemical used to make Teflon, with no references in medical texts. PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, is a persistent chemical that builds up in the bloodstream and causes cancer and birth defects, as confirmed by secret DuPont testing.

Bilott sends the evidence to the EPA and the Department of Justice, and the EPA fines DuPont $16.5 million. Bilott then seeks to obtain medical monitoring for all residents through a class action lawsuit. DuPont attempts to minimize the effects of PFOA, but the attempt is discovered late, giving those affected only a month to take action.

Although PFOA is not regulated, Bilott shows that the amount in water exceeds the safe threshold of one part per billion. After a long legal battle, DuPont settles for $70 million and an independent scientific evaluation is established. Bilott encourages nearly 70,000 people to donate blood for medical data, but seven years pass without results. Lawyer finally receives confirmation that PFOA causes multiple cancers and other diseases.

DuPont attempts to renege on the agreement, but Bilott wins the first three multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the company, which eventually settles the class action by paying $670.7 million.

Robert Bilott has demonstrated courage, justice and perseverance, offering a powerful call to action to protect the environment and our health. His fight against DuPont was not just a legal battle, but an example of how a single individual can make a difference, taking on powerful economic interests to protect the common good and ensure a more secure future for us all.

In the first of these lawsuits Robert obtained compensation of 1,600,000 dollars, in the second 5,600,000 dollars, in the third 12,500,000 dollars.

PFOA is believed to potentially be present in the blood of every living thing on the planet... including 99% of humans [2].

Today, thanks to Robert's work, organizations around the world are increasing to ban PFOA and study the over 600 perfluoroalkyl substances, almost all of which are unregulated.

And more than twenty years after Wilbur Tennant showed up on his doorstep...Robert Bilott is still fighting.

PFOA was proposed for listing in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2015, and in 2019 the Conference of the Parties added PFOA, its salts and PFOA-related compounds to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention . Many hundreds of PFOA salts and precursors fall within the scope of the restriction.

The Stockholm Convention, adopted in Stockholm in 2001 under the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and entered into force in 2004, aims to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of persistent organic pollutants (known as acronym for POPs from the English “Persistent Organic Pollutants”), harmful chemical substances that remain intact in the environment for long periods and which accumulate in the adipose tissue of humans and wildlife. Furthermore, the Convention is aimed at undertaking research, development and monitoring activities and encouraging the sharing of responsibilities and collaboration between the countries that have ratified the treaty (Parties).

The Convention provides for the prohibition of the production, use and marketing (including import and export) of intentionally produced POPs, listed in Annexes A and B of the Convention itself, the continuous reduction and, if possible, the definitive elimination of emissions of the substances organic waste resulting from "unintentional" production, referred to in Annex C, in addition to the adoption of measures to reduce or eliminate emissions of POPs from stocks and waste.

The decision-making body of the Convention is the Conference of the Parties (COP), which meets ordinarily once every two years, in conjunction with the COP of the Rotterdam Convention and the COP of the Basel Convention. The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPs Review Committee or POPRC), composed of a small number of experts, has the task of implementing the procedure for the inclusion of new substances in the list of those provided for by the Convention (amendment of Annexes A , B, and/or C). Finally, it is up to the COP to decide, according to a precautionary approach, whether or not to include a new chemical substance in the aforementioned annexes, specifying the relevant control measures.

The Convention has been ratified by 182 countries, including Italy (with Law no. 93 of 12 July 2022) [4], and currently includes 39 substances, of which 29 in Annex A, 3 including DDT in Annex B and finally, 7 substances produced and released unintentionally, including PCBs and dioxins, in Annex C [2].

Within the European Union, the Stockholm Convention was ratified with Decision 2006/507/EC of the Council of 14 October 2004 and implemented by Regulation (EU) 2019/2021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on organic pollutants persistent [2].