by John O’Brien
Legal NewsLine
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – As Congress vilifies chemicals known as PFAS, some question whether the research upon which lawmakers – and trial lawyers – are relying shows that anyone has actually been harmed by them.
At the same time, law firms that spent big on Democrats’ push to reclaim majorities in the House (successful) and Senate (not) in the 2018 election stand to gain from the public shaming of PFAS as they pursue their lawsuits.
One of those lawsuits purports to be a class action on behalf of the entire country that has not been made sick.
It claims PFAS are in 99% of the population. However, it does not allege that the lead plaintiff – or anyone else – has contracted a disease as a result. Other lawsuits rely on claims for loss of property value.
“My general feeling is this whole PFAS scare is way overblown,” says Steve Milloy, a biostatistician who served on President Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency and has made a career of resisting what he feels is “junk science.”
“It’s all basically running on the notion that detection is toxicity and if you can find it someplace and find people who were exposed to it, that’s bad.”
