AFFF Claims

What is AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam)?

Aqueous film-forming foam, while very effective in extinguishing class B fires, contains a group of dangerous chemicals that are known as PFAS.

As a group of artificial chemicals, PFAS were initially manufactured for the Manhattan Project, whose purpose was to create the nuclear bomb for World War II.

Fluorine gas, the most reactive and the most electronegative of all the elements, was used to separate uranium for the manufacturing of nuclear bombs. Minnesota is Ground Zero for the contamination with PFAS which is occurring in the entire country. The chemicals are in the blood of everyone by now. In 1950, the company 3M bought the facility in Minnesota to continue manufacturing PFAS. They also began including PFAS in aqueous film-forming foam, also known as AFFF, which all firefighters have since been using to extinguish class B fires. The company was also selling the chemicals to DuPont, another notorious business that made use of PFAS for the production of Teflon, a non-stick material used for cookware. By virtue of the ability to repel oil, and stains, as well as to withstand temperatures of 1,700 degrees, PFAS soon became a commercial success. However, the chemicals are non-biodegradable and thereby persist in the environment and in the human body once inhaled or ingested, being able to lead to the development of serious diseases such as kidney cancer, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer.

Unsurprisingly, 3M has been aware all along of the devastating effects of exposure to PFAS on the human body, but it chose to subvert science and cover up the scientific evidence supporting the toxicity of the chemicals. In 2000, the company stopped manufacturing PFAS. Nevertheless, before it ceased the production of the chemicals, it has been gaining almost one-half a billion dollars every year from selling PFAS. One piece of evidence that 3M was aware of the toxicity of PFAS from the beginning was the label they gave DuPont when selling the chemicals to the company, label which stated "CANCER: WARNING: Contains a chemical which can cause cancer".

Who can be harmed by the fire suppressant AFFF?

The most studied toxic chemicals in AFFF are perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Originally produced by 3M, these compounds have been used in manufacturing all kinds of chemical products.

Although efficient, PFASs have unique properties that cause them to persist, accumulate in the blood and body of people exposed to them, and are also extremely persistent in the environment and likely have toxic effects on human health. Those most affected by exposure to AFFF are firefighters who worked in:

• Firefighting training areas
• Aircraft crash sites
• Military airport hangars

The U.S. military used AFFF during firefighter training and during emergencies. AFFF containing PFAS has also been used in various ways by the U.S. Navy, and other branches of the military, since 1960.

Therefore, individuals at the greatest risk of harm from AFFF are the firefighters who use it, Air Force personnel who were directly exposed to it, those who manufacture the foam, and people living near military bases where AFFF was used.

Firefighting foam and toxic exposure on military bases

What is most concerning about AFFF-impacted sites is the fact that PFASs have contaminated military sites and surrounding communities. In Alabama for example, people are familiar with the Dupont litigation regarding the environmental pollution from the facility manufacturing PFAS.

Recently, more than 40 classes of PFAS were identified at essentially every AFFF-impacted military site that was investigated.

Pending claims allege that the liable companies have each designed, manufactured, and distributed AFFF containing PFAS in such a way as to cause the contamination and the resultant bioaccumulation of PFAS in the blood and body of many individuals. AFFFs containing PFAS have contaminated the soil at various military bases, airports, and other sites where the foams were used, eventually causing a wide range of health risks, property damage, and/or other economic losses.

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Serious AFFF exposure risks

Health organizations such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Cancer Society (ACS), and U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) have found that certain PFAS may affect the immune system and increase the risk of cancer. Our industrial hygienists and medical research team came to the same conclusion.

The EPA has classified the chemicals in the foam products as 'emerging contaminants', meaning that the health hazards and environmental risks associated with AFFF are significant.

Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified PFOA as a "possible carcinogenic to humans", based on evidence of bladder cancer from studies in factory workers exposed to PFOA. Diseases with strong association with exposure to AFFF include:

• Kidney cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Liver cancer
• Bladder cancer
• Thyroid disease
• Ulcerative colitis

Other disease associated with AFFF exposure, that might make you eligible to file a claim:

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Colorectal cancer
• Leukemia
• Breast cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Endometrial cancer

Firefighters were never told about the health consequences of AFFF and no one made much effort to stop it from escaping into the environment. After years of exposure, PFAS contaminated and accumulated in the blood and body of many firefighters, family members, and people living near military bases in the states where AFFF was used.

As a result of the exposure to AFFF containing PFAS and the accumulation of these toxic chemicals in their blood, many people have developed cancers, especially testicular cancer. International studies on firefighters confirmed that they are at increased risk of testicular cancer, which can even be considered an occupational disease for firefighters. Besides accumulating in the blood of exposed individuals, these man-made chemicals accumulate throughout life especially in the liver and kidneys, increasing the risk of getting cancer and other serious diseases.

Holding manufacturers responsible for harms caused by their products

When a product is designed and marketed as a safe one, the last thing it should do is harm you. But when a manufacturer misrepresents the safety of its products, this raises the question of whether the manufacturer tested the product appropriately or knowingly released it to the public with a defect.

Regarding AFFF foam products, it seems that chemical manufacturers deliberately ignored evidence of the harmful effects resulting from exposure to toxic chemicals on the health of military personnel, firefighters, private citizens, and the environment.

The AFFF products were designed, marketed, manufactured, distributed, and sold by one or more of the following companies named as defendants in current legal processes:

• 3M Company
• Tyco Fire Products
• Buckeye Fire Equipment
• Chemguard
• Du Pont de Nemours
• The Chemours Company
• Chubb Fire
• Corteva
• National Foam
• Kidde Fire Fighting
• UTC Fire & Security America’s Corp.
• Enterra Corp.
• Williams Holdings
• Dynax Corporation

3M and the other chemical companies are currently facing a growing number of personal injury claims over chemical-based firefighting foam sold for more than 50 years and used extensively at U.S. military bases, airports, and other industrial sites around the country. In order to protect our environment and ensure the restoration of damaged natural resources, we must hold responsible the manufacturers who knew of the dangers of these products.

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Updates & timeline for AFFF exposure

April 2022 – over 2,000 cases related to AFFF are pending in South Carolina court

The entire number of cases pending in the AFFF multi-district litigation in South Carolina is currently over 2,000, as this litigation keeps expanding. AFFF lawsuits have been accepted as bellwether trial candidates in the class action. Pretrial discovery in these lawsuits closed out in March, moving the process one step closer to trial. The expert witness deadline comes at the end of June.

2021 – Colorado also bans the sale of AFFF and other PFAS-containing firefighting foams

Starting August 2, 2021, Colorado bans the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS for training or testing systems that suppress fire. It also restricts the sale, manufacture, or distribution of AFFF and other firefighting foams containing these chemicals within the state. Other states where AFFF is currently banned are:

• Illinois
• Arkansas
• California
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

February 2021 – AFFF manufacturer pays $17.5 million in the first MDL settlement

The residents of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, have reached a $17.5 million settlement with the manufacturers of AFFF. Part of multi-district litigation, the class action lawsuit had Tyco Fire Products L.P., Chemguard Inc., and ChemDesign Inc. as defendants. Of the $17.5 million settlement, $15 million will go to Classwide claims for harm and property damage caused by PFAS exposure.

The remaining $2.5 million will compensate Class Members who came to struggle with testicular cancer, kidney cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, and pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, according to the proposed settlement.

December 2018 – over 75 lawsuits filed over AFFF are consolidated in South Carolina

Over 75 class-action AFFF lawsuits filed are now consolidated in South Carolina to address claims of the dangerous impact of the product on public health and the environment. Although more than half of the 3M class action lawsuits were filed in Colorado, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation concluded that the South Carolina court had the capacity to handle the multi-district litigation.

2018 – commercial aircraft manufacturers and commercial airports can opt out of using AFFF

Congress passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act in 2018. It includes a noteworthy amendment that allows both commercial aircraft manufacturers and commercial airports to choose not to use AFFF or other PFAS-containing foams by 2021, according to the organization Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

Moreover, in the same year, Washington passed new laws that banned the sale of PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The state also passed a new act giving itself the authority to regulate chemicals such as PFAS in more consumer products than just food packaging and firefighting foam.

1966 – AFFF is invented by the U.S. Navy and the 3M company

The formula of the notorious aqueous film-forming foam, known as AFFF for short, was created by the U.S. Navy together with the infamous company 3M. In 1966, the U.S. Navy received a patent on the invention, and by the mid-1960s, 3M was manufacturing AFFF for the military.

Furthermore, by the late-1960s, the U.S. Navy required all military vessels to carry AFFF aboard to be used in case of fire. In the 1970s, the Department of Defense began employing AFFF to extinguish fuel fires at all military bases throughout America.