The Poison Detectives

A firefighter’s wife and a corporate lawyer in different parts of the U.S. get pulled into solving separate mysteries. Something was making cows die and deer haemorrhage to death in West Virginia. That same something could also be giving firefighters cancer – all over the country. When the lawyer and the firefighter’s wife met, they found out they were working on the same mystery. The mystery was caused by a man-made chemical that environmental regulators should have known about but didn’t. A chemical that is said to be so toxic it is unclear if any contact with it is safe. The chemical was created by a corporate giant, and then another corporate giant began using it to provide the world with so-called revolutionary products. Products, it turns out, come with a very steep price. This is a fascinating story of two people unravelling a ball of yarn that would reveal the poisoning of the world.

It begins with an unlikely detective. Diane Cotter wasn’t a researcher, a scientist, a journalist or a sleuth. But she became all of that after her firefighting husband got cancer. Then, dozens of his firefighting colleagues also got cancer. Diane suspected it was more than just occupational risk that caused these cancers. She set out to answer questions of how and why and found herself pulled into a rabbit hole where the world appeared upside down. She discovered that the protective suits firefighters wear are contaminated with chemicals – called PFAS – that can kill. She found a scientist to test the gear for the chemicals and the results are shocking. But it wasn’t enough to convince the union and the agency that approves the equipment.

It begins with a memorial ceremony in Colorado for fallen firefighters. It used to be that firefighters died in fires or from inhaling toxic smoke. Today the majority die from cancer.We meet a firefighter from Newfoundland who attended the ceremony. We meet a union rep whose job is to reduce or eliminate the new risks, and a former union rep who points out how the top union brass failed firefighters by believing manufacturers that the turnout gear was safe.Meanwhile Diane Cotter is gathering turnout gear and raising money for a formal study. And 1300 km away a lawyer is grappling with questions about toxic chemicals in water that is killing a rancher’s cattle.  Federal and provincial regulators aren’t interested in investigating the problem so the lawyer sues Dupont. He suspects chemicals from the plant are to blame and suing is the only way to get the internal documents to prove it.

Lawyer Rob Bilott completes the promise he made to his grandmother and has to decide if he will go back to corporate law or continue to fight the multinational company, Dupont. He tries to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over the fight but gets nowhere.And a high-level U.S. government scientist explains how regulation really works.Still, Bilott manages to get Dupont to pay for a study of 70,000 people who drank water poisoned by the company’s waste.Meanwhile, Diane Cotter and Graham Peaslee cobble together the money for a study on PFAS chemicals in firefighters’ turnout gear. A robust study is needed to get the results published.

We learn about the contamination of military bases in the U.S. and Canada from PFAS chemicals in firefighting foam. And how the foam residue has poisoned drinking water sources in both countries. We hear about one community in Quebec that was faced with a big problem finding a new source of drinking water.And a group of firefighters who decided to create a safe alternative to the foam. But because it is a gel instead of a foam, they ran into roadblocks getting it certified for firefighters to use.The issue was a big one for a congressional committee looking into PFAS. It called the military, the Environmental Protection Agency and the companies making the PFAS chemicals to testify and explain their actions. The members of Congress were looking for clear answers and weren’t happy when they didn’t get them.

In this episode, everyone has given up on the regulators, who move slowly if at all. Lawsuits are filed by Diane Cotter’s husband Paul and his colleagues. The union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, sues the National Fire Protection Association, which sets the safety standards for firefighting equipment. And lawyer Rob Bilott files a class action suit, which includes every person in the U.S., and requires the chemical companies to pay for blood tests of all 325 million Americans. Will the chemical companies let him get away with it? And we learn about Diane Cotter’s hardest days. After years of abuse on social media, email attacks and shunning, she felt she couldn’t go on. But something pulled her back from the edge.