3M Will Stop Producing ‘Forever Chemical’ PFAS by End of 2025
- Initial cost will be up to $1 billion this quarter, more later
- Longer-term legal liabilities could reach $30 billion or more
This article is for subscribers only.
3M Co., confronting regulatory pressure and lawsuits that threaten billions of dollars in damages, will stop making so-called forever chemicals and aim to discontinue their use in products by the end of 2025.
The announcement marks a historic break with an entire class of chemicals — consisting of thousands of variations on the carbon-fluorine bond — that were first created as part of World War II-era atomic bomb research. The company developed a variety of products with them over more than 70 years, including Scotchgard, and they were used in hundreds of other companies’ products such as firefighting foams and waterproof and stainproof textiles.