The chemical giant 3M appear on Tuesday in a Belgian courtroom before the justice of the peace in Antwerp, after a Flemish family sued the company for neighbourly nuisance over the presence of PFAS chemicals in their blood.
The trial will mark the first lawsuit in Belgium against the chemical company 3M. In the US, thousands of charges have been made against the company for its use of PFAS. An alarming level of PFAS was found in the blood of a resident near a 3M site in Antwerp. Belgian law is too strict for the case to be a class action suit, so one family is taking the lead.
PFAS are also called Forever Chemicals because they break down very slowly over time. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, scientific studies show that exposure to the chemical can cause health issues in animals and humans. PFAS can be found in water, fish and soil and they present at low levels in food products around the globe.
The family lives about one kilometre away from the 3M plant where PFOS (substance belonging to the PFAS group) were produced. Attorney Geert Lenssens told De Standaard that the parents were found to have 5,000 to 7,000% above the limit of PFOS in their blood. Their children were also found to have high values of PFOS in their blood.
In July, Vice-president of 3M, John Banovetz, agreed in a press release to "fully uphold to carry out PFAS-related remediation and provide other support to the Flanders region." The company has said before that PFAS do not demonstrate harm to humans or animals. However, in December the company announced that it will work to discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio by 2025.
The family is asking for compensation for the stress and anxiety caused by the pollution.
