#bigchem — Public Fediverse posts

Inside America’s carpet capital: an empire and its #toxic legacy

Covering the world in carpet came with a cost no one wants to pay

By Dylan Jackson, Jason Dearen and Justin Price, February 5, 2026

"Bob Shaw glared at the executives from the chemical giant #3M across the table from him. He held up a carpet sample and pointed at the logo for Scotchgard on the back.

" 'That’s not a logo,' fumed Shaw, CEO of the world’s largest #carpet company, one attendee later recalled. 'That’s a target.'

"Weeks earlier, 3M Company announced it would reformulate its signature stain-resistance brand under pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency because of human health and #environmental concerns.

"Mills like Shaw’s had been using Scotchgard in carpet production, releasing its chemical ingredients into the environment for decades. And on a massive scale: The shrewd CEO built Shaw Industries from a family firm in Dalton, Georgia, into a globally dominant carpet maker worth billions.

“I got 15 million of these out in the marketplace,” Shaw told his 3M visitors. 'What am I supposed to do about that?'

"A 3M executive replied that he didn’t know. Shaw threw the sample at him and left the room.

"The answer to Shaw’s Scotchgard question from that moment in 2000 would be the same as that of the broader industry. Carpet makers kept using closely related chemical alternatives for years, even after scientific studies and regulators warned of their accumulation in human blood and possible health effects. Customers expected stain resistance; nothing worked better than the family of chemicals known as PFAS.

"A lack of state and federal regulations allowed carpet companies and their suppliers to legally switch among different versions of these stain-and-soil resistant products. Meanwhile, the local public utility in Dalton responsible for ensuring safe drinking water coordinated with carpet executives in private meetings that would effectively shield their companies from oversight.

"Year after year, the chemicals traveled in water discarded during manufacturing from mills across northwest Georgia, eventually reaching a river system that provides drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in #Georgia and eastern #Alabama.

"The #pollution is so bad some researchers have identified the region as one of the nation’s PFAS hot spots. Today, the consequences can be found everywhere. PFAS, often called forever chemicals because they can take decades or more to break down, are in the water and the soil.

"They’re in the dust on floors where children crawl, the local #fish and #wildlife, and as ongoing research has shown, the people.

"Doctors have few answers for those like Dolly Baker who live downriver from Dalton’s carpet plants. She recently learned her blood has extraordinarily high PFAS levels.

" 'I feel like, I don’t know, almost like there’s a blanket over me, smothering me that I can’t get out from under,' she said. “It’s just, you’re trapped.' "

Read more:
https://apnews.com/projects/pfas-forever-stained/

#PFAS #Scotchguard #ThreeM #3MKnew #3MLied #BigChem #Accountability #WaterIsLife #CancerCausing #EnvironmentalPollution #ForeverChemicals #Carpeting #WoolRugs #HempRugs #DontTrustBigChem #PFASPollution

#GMOCorn & #Glyphosate: New evidence for precaution from Mexican scientists

March 4, 2025

"Most #corn grown in the U.S. is #GeneticallyModified to tolerate the spraying of #glyphosate-based herbicides. These #herbicides are linked to cancer, endocrine disruption and other health concerns.

"#Mexico banned genetically modified (#GM) corn from use in tortillas in 2023. The #US challenged the policy as an unfair trade practice, claiming Mexico’s precautionary policies were not based on science. In response, Mexico’s national science agency compiled one of the most comprehensive and thorough reviews to date of current scientific evidence showing #HealthRisks associated with production and consumption of the most widely grown crop in the U.S.

"In this webinar, the former director of Mexico’s National Council for Humanities, Science and Technology and the agency’s lead researcher on the topic presented Mexico’s recently released scientific review document. The evidence draws on recent literature to make the case that there are unacceptable health risks from GM corn and glyphosate for Mexican people who consume large quantities of minimally processed corn in food products such as tortillas.

"Dr. #ElenaÁlvarezBuylla, who directed the national science agency for six years, outlined the research carried out to underpin Mexico’s 2023 decree to restrict the use of GM corn in tortillas and other minimally processed corn products, and to phase out the use of glyphosate.

"Erica Hagman Aguilar presented the key findings from the well-referenced 200-page science dossier, which was recently translated into English.

"This webinar was moderated by researcher and writer Timothy A. Wise.

"The discussion was co-hosted with #USRightToKnow, a nonprofit public health research group. It was presented with simultaneous English/Spanish interpretation. "

Learn more / watch [videos available in both English and Spanish]:
https://www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars/96960

#EPAFail #FoodWaterWatch #Glyphosate #Bayer #ToxicPesticides #Monocrops #Monocrap #BigAg #BigChem #Corruption #Poison #Crapitalism #CapitalismKills #RoundUpKills #USPol #WorldPol