Defendant entity record

DuPont / Chemours

Chemical manufacturers at the origin of PFAS litigation: DuPont's internal C8 research documented health effects decades before disclosure, extracted into the public record by the litigation that inspired 'Dark Waters.'

Ticker DD / CC (NYSE)Facts verified Jul 19, 2026

The record

Key facts

Fact 01

1961 — earliest internal animal liver-effect findings later made public

Source: https://www.epa.gov/archive/epapages/newsroom_archive/newsreleases/fdcb2f665cac66bb852570d7005d6665.html

Fact 02

$16.5M — EPA penalty (2005), then the largest in agency history

Source: https://www.epa.gov/archive/epapages/newsroom_archive/newsreleases/fdcb2f665cac66bb852570d7005d6665.html

The entity

Record

The C8 (PFOA) record is among the most documented in tort history: DuPont's own studies showed liver effects in animals by the early 1960s, deaths in a 1978 monkey study, abnormal liver function in exposed workers by 1979, and C8 in female workers' blood by 1981 — none of it disclosed at the time. The EPA's 2005 settlement over unreported data was then the largest civil administrative penalty in its history ($16.5 million).

Discovery by attorney Rob Bilott in the Tennant case and the Leach class action forced the record public and established the C8 Science Panel, whose epidemiology now underpins PFAS claims worldwide. Chemours was spun off in 2015 carrying substantial PFAS liabilities; both companies participate in water-provider settlements alongside 3M.

PFAS litigation now spans the AFFF MDL (see 3M), state natural-resource claims, and insurer coverage wars — a multi-decade docket still in its middle chapters.

Public-record events

Timeline

Date	Event	Record
Jul 1, 2015	Other	Chemours spun off from DuPont, carrying substantial PFAS liabilities. ↗
Dec 14, 2005	Regulatory	EPA settlement over unreported C8 health data — largest civil administrative penalty in agency history at the time. ↗

Related litigation

Cases

PFAS Water Contamination LawsuitPFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of more than 12,000 synthetic chemicals that have been used in manufacturing since the 1940s. They are called 'forever chemicals' because they do not break down in the environment or in the human body. PFAS were used extensively in aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), the firefighting foam used at military bases and airports for decades. PFAS-contaminated AFFF has leached into groundwater near hundreds of military installations and civilian airports across the United States. PFAS were also discharged into waterways by industrial manufacturers — most notably DuPont's PFOA contamination of the Ohio River valley and Chemours' GenX contamination of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. 3M manufactured PFOS-based PFAS and supplied them to the military and industry from the 1950s through 2002. Both companies concealed internal studies showing that PFAS accumulated in human blood and were linked to cancer. MDL 2873 — the AFFF Products Liability Litigation in the District of South Carolina — consolidates individual personal injury claims. The 3M water system settlement ($12.5B, 2023) and the DuPont/Chemours/Corteva water system settlement ($1.185B, 2024) have resolved municipal water utility claims but left individual personal injury claims unresolved. Individuals diagnosed with kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, or other PFAS-linked conditions following documented exposure to contaminated drinking water may have significant individual claims.CASE FILE

Sources & attribution

Sources cited

EPA 2005 settlement release