Minnesota Residents Seek Class Action Suit against 3M

By Jennifer Griffith

Published on April 02, 2007

Court proceedings began on Tuesday. The case could be the largest environmental damage trial in Minnesota history.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the case deserves class action status. According to the plaintiffs, the health concerns of 60,000 people are at stake.

3M admitted that trace levels of the chemicals have seeped into the water supply in Washington County, but argued that these amounts are negligible and have never harmed anyone.

Washington County District Judge Mary Hannon will decide, in the next few months, if the case deserves to be elevated to class action status. If class action status is granted, anyone who consumed the contaminated water would be eligible for a share of the potential monetary award in the case.

Since the 1950s until 2002, 3M has used PFCs to make Teflon and Scotchgard stain repellent products.

At the center of the case is the issue of whether PFCs are harmful to humans. The plaintiffs’ lawyers cited tests on monkeys and rats that showed that PFCs cause birth defects, cancer, and liver problems.

3M has conducted thousands of PFC safety studies and claims that small amounts have no adverse effect on humans.

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