Dark Waters is a 2019 American legal thriller film directed by Todd Haynes and written by Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan.
[2][3] An account of the investigation and case was first publicized in the book Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8 (2007) by Callie Lyons, a Mid-Ohio Valley journalist who covered the controversy as it was unfolding.
[4] Parts of the pollution and coverup story were also reported by Mariah Blake, whose 2015 article "Welcome to Beautiful Parkersburg, West Virginia" was a National Magazine Award finalist,[5] and Sharon Lerner, whose series "Bad Chemistry" ran in The Intercept.
Farmer Wilbur Tennant, who knows Bilott's grandmother, asks him to investigate the numerous deaths of dairy cattle at his farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Robert visits the Tennants' farm, where he learns that 190 cows have died after exhibiting unusual medical conditions, such as bloated organs, blackened teeth, and tumors.
He learns that PFOA is perfluorooctanoic acid, which DuPont uses to manufacture Teflon, a substance widely used in American homes for nonstick frying pans and carpet flooring.
However, DuPont sends a deceptive letter notifying residents of the presence of PFOA, thus starting the statute of limitations running, giving any further legal action only 12 months to begin.
Since PFOA is unregulated, Robert's team argues that the corporation is liable, as the amount in contaminated waters was 6 times higher than the 1 part per billion deemed safe by DuPont's internal documents.
It is agreed in mediation that the company will carry out medical monitoring only if it is proven that PFOA caused the ailments, and an independent science panel is set up.
Finally, the science panel contacts Bilott and tells him that they linked PFOA exposure to an increased incidence of two types of cancer and four other diseases in Parkersburg.
Bilott defiantly decides to sue the company separately for each Parkersburg resident with an illness that would have been covered by the medical monitoring (which currently includes over 3,500 individuals), and juries award his first three clients multi-million dollar settlements.
On September 21, 2018, it was announced that Todd Haynes would direct the film, then titled Dry Run, from a rewrite by Mario Correa of a script whose first draft was penned by Matthew Michael Carnahan,[10] and that it would be produced by Participant Media along with Mark Ruffalo.
Chemours estimated that it would need to pay over $200 million to address environmental damages in North Carolina caused by another PFAS manufacturing facility in that region.
3M saw little to no change in its stock price the day of the film's release, but it was already experiencing a "difficult year" from "potential liabilities due to possible litigation over previous production of PFAS.