#Investigation RTBF: Solvay, who is responsible for widespread PFAS pollution [in Italy and the US], knew about the toxicity of these forever chemicals and continues to use them

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  1. **An investigation conducted by the #Investigation team with the support of the Journalism Fund reveals that some Solvay factories have contaminated neighbouring populations with toxic substances described as “eternal chemicals”. This pollution affected two countries: Italy and the United States. Internal documents from the chemical giant show that the Belgian company replaced certain controversial chemicals with others that were just as toxic. The multinational knew this and has continued to use them for more than 15 years.**

    It seems as if history is stuttering. After the Dupont factory scandal in the United States and, closer to home, the 3M company in the Antwerp region, it is now the turn of Solvay, one of Belgium’s leading industrial companies, to be implicated in a major pollution of perfluorinated compounds, better known as PFAS.

    PFASs (per- and polyfluroalkyl substances) are molecules that are so stable that they have been nicknamed “eternal chemicals”. These perfluorinated compounds were invented by man. They are resistant to very high temperatures. They can repel water, grease, etc. They are used in a whole range of applications: non-stick coatings for frying pans (Teflon) or waterproof clothing.

    In our lives, they are everywhere: our packaging, our cosmetics, our cars, our planes, our fire-fighting foams, etc. They accumulate in living beings and are extremely persistent. They accumulate in living organisms and are extremely persistent, lasting up to several hundred years in the environment. PFAS are a large family of almost 5000 substances. Some are endocrine disruptors and suspected carcinogens. The two best known are PFOS and PFOA.

    **The origin of the investigation**

    The starting point of this investigation is the scandal at the 3M factory in Zwijndrecht. In the spring of 2021, Belgium discovered widespread PFOS contamination. At the time, we were trying to find out whether 3M was one of the biggest emitters of perfluorinated compounds in Europe.

    One document contains the answer: the European Pollutant Release Register (E-PRTR). It lists the releases of more than 30,000 companies on the European continent. In the many lines of pollutants, we find a first clue: perfluorocarbons (PFCS). These are not PFOS or PFOA directly. Rather, these greenhouse gases are an indication of a significant use of perfluorinated compounds at an industrial site.

    Not surprisingly, 3M often appears in the European TOP 5 or even on the European podium. But from 2007 to 2015, there is one plant that outperforms all others. It emits 6 to 7 times more perfluorinated gases into the air than 3M in Zwijndrecht. About 200 tonnes per year. It is owned by Solvay and is located in Spinetta Marengo, Italy, an hour’s drive from Milan. The data from the register can be found here.

    A few clicks on the web allow us to quickly understand that this plant is targeted in the Italian media for environmental problems. We decided to go there to document this potential pollution.

    **A poison in the taps**

    To fully understand the issues at stake, we first have to look back in time. Solvay arrived at Spinetta Marengo in 2002. Twenty years ago it bought Ausimont, the plant’s former name. It wanted to expand its portfolio of specialty polymers. These ultra-light and resistant compounds are used in the automobile, aeronautics, battery and electronics industries. It therefore swallowed up Ausimont, a specialist in fluropolymers, for 1.3 billion euros. At the time, it was Solvay’s biggest acquisition.

    This plant is a century old. Before polymers, chromium and acids were produced here. A poison close to the village and its inhabitants. 6 years after the purchase, the first problems came with the water. Solvay distributes free water to the nearest inhabitants.

    Just behind the factory wall, Maurizzio Spinolo, a local resident, shows us a tap on his land: “This is the water for watering our vegetable garden, everyone’s vegetable garden here. Until 2008 when they discovered hexavalent chromium in the groundwater and in the whole area.”

    In reality, 800,000 m³ of toxic substances were buried in the basement of the plant. Poisons buried before Solvay arrived by former managers. The upper part of the aquifer under the plant is completely compromised. Some concentrations of hexavalent chromium (8203 ug/L) in the groundwater were sometimes more than 1600 times above Italian standards. Traces of this known carcinogen will eventually reach our taps. “We have all drunk this external water from Solvay. And if a child plays outside, what does he do? They drink it. It’s clear that something is going to happen to me,” says Maurizzio. The water will be cut off permanently in 2008.

    **A mega environmental lawsuit**

    Even though Solvay was not the cause of the pollution, it will be sued in the same way as the former owners. The case began in 2008. Ninety people have filed civil suits against Solvay and the trial will last 11 years. It even went all the way to the Supreme Court of Cassation. In the end, Solvay and three of its directors were convicted.

    “The defendants had committed an environmental disaster, a culpable disaster without a name, aggravating a historical contamination because they were accused of not having maintained some 50 kilometres of water pipes and in this water flowed poisons deposited in the soil by other managers, not by Solvay. They knew what they were buying and, by not maintaining the water network, they continued to allow the disastrous contamination of the water table to continue”, explains Vittorio Spallasso, lawyer for the civil parties.

    The Court of Cassation’s ruling points to the negligence of several Solvay managers, including the environmental manager: “[…] Carimati was clearly fully aware of the serious contamination of the site and the surrounding area and had failed to propose or carry out the necessary investigation and to take the appropriate measures to contain or reduce the pollution.The judgement goes even further, stating that Solvay deliberately withheld information from the public authorities: “there was a clear intention on the part of the two companies that succeeded each other on the site (Ausimont and Solvay) to conceal or omit data relating to the pollution, in order to make the situation of the internal and external water table appear better than it actually was.

    The lawyer for the civil parties speaks of a blatant lack of transparency: “There was a double accounting of the poisons. There were the correct analyses with the real values of the toxic substances and analyses where the concentrations were lower, watered down. Solvay used the latter. We will see later that the omission of important data from public authorities is a pattern that will be repeated in other parts of the world. The company will eventually be ordered to pay over €420,000 in damages to the civil parties.

    **Public justice vs. private justice**

    This is a final judgement by the state courts. However, Solvay is challenging this judicial truth and is going to take another parallel route: an arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce. A sort of “private” justice organized by an institution that represents companies worldwide.The multinational won the case. The Court of Arbitration considers that the former owner of Ausimont (Edison) had deceived Solvay at the time of the acquisition of the Spinetta plant. Solvay is to be paid more than 90 million euros in compensation. Private justice is in total contradiction with the judgements handed down by the state justice.

    Solvay only retains this part of the story: “The arbitration award recognizes that Edison (the former owner of Ausimont) deliberately made false statements to Solvay during the acquisition. Although not responsible for past pollution, Solvay took significant remedial action over many years […] Solvay invested more than €280 million in remediating the site’s historical pollution, improving its safety and environmental footprint, and upgrading it.

    Move along. There’s nothing more to see.

  4. I always disliked going to the solvay parties with my parents. Didn’t liked those people, now i have at least a valid reason to think they are rich cunts.

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