Just outside of Bangor, Maine, is Hermon High School.
Some 500 kids come here each day to learn, but they can't drink the water.
The fountains taped shut.
We're very concerned.
The school's water recently tested above the state's safety limit for PFAS, often
referred to as forever chemicals.
We're not fully understanding why it is in our water, and it's at the level
that we're at.
This is where the water comes in from the well.
Micah Grant is superintendent of schools of the Hermon School District.
For now, bottles of water are stacked at every fountain.
We want to make sure that they have clean water to drink.
Nearly 30 miles away in the rural town of Unity.
This is the graveyard of our farm business.
Nine years ago, Adam Nordell and his wife Johanna, bought Songbird Farm.
We thought, wow, this is this is our spot.
Then it was thriving and lush.
We came to this property to grow healthy, fresh produce to sell to our
community.
But that all changed two years ago when they learned their soil was toxic.
Our land is severely contaminated with forever chemicals.
As soon as we learned we shut down.
These types of stories are happening across Maine, where farmers, where
schoolchildren are threatened by the level of PFAS contamination that's in their lands
and waters.
Aaron Frey is Maine's attorney general.
There are farmers who had to euthanize their livestock because of the chemical
contamination.
Frey recently filed litigation against several chemical manufacturers, including 3M
and DuPont.
We're alleging that 3M and DuPont created these chemicals.
Had the science that showed just how dangerous they were, how toxic they were, how they were
going to last forever.
It is my responsibility to do whatever I can to hold accountable those companies that
profited off of this chemical.
PFAS or forever chemicals are manmade substances that date back to the
1940s. They gained mass attention for their ability to repel water, oil
and stains. And over the decades, they've been used in a wide range of applications
for nonstick cookware and waterproof fabrics to food, packaging, cosmetics,
even firefighting foams.
But over time, concerns began to rise.
According to the CDC, the chemicals do not break down in the environment.
They can move through soils, contaminate drinking water and build up in fish and
wildlife. What are the health risks associated with PFAS chemicals?
We've seen correlations with thyroid disease, certain kinds of cancer, kidney disease,
liver dysfunction.
They're called forever chemicals because they stay in your body.
Scott Gottlieb is a former commissioner for the FDA.
I think what the government needs to do is step up testing, make sure that we have a better picture
of where these chemicals are getting into food sources and the water supply.
Several manufacturers have announced their plans to reduce or discontinue the
production of PFAS in the coming years.
A 3M spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
As the science and technology of PFAS societal and regulatory
expectations and our expectations of ourselves have evolved, so has
how we manage PFAS.
Adding the company plans to end production of the chemicals by 2025.
The company also expressed a commitment in remediating PFAS investing in water
treatment and collaborating with communities.
DuPont, on the other hand, said it has never manufactured the harmful chemicals and
believes the legal complaints are without merit.
Since 2015, DuPont has gone through spin-offs and a merger.
Those companies also named as defendants in Maine's lawsuit, Chemours tells
CNBC the company pledged in 2018 to reduce PFAS emissions at its
manufacturing sites by at least 99% by 2030.
Dow denied manufacturing PFAS and stated that it is not alleged to have caused
any environmental contamination.
A Corteva spokesperson told CNBC it does not comment on ongoing legal
matters. On Wall Street, one analyst thinks 3M specifically is facing
great financial risk.
At this stage given valuation and what we know about the PFAS
litigation, we do consider 3M to be uninvestable.
According to RBC Capital, it could mean a massive liability of 20 to $25
Billion, and that's just the beginning.
The company also facing another significant potential liability tied to its
military earplugs.
Analysts say it could cost 3M up to $10 Billion or more.
As we reported earlier this year, the suit involves more than 200,000 military service
members and veterans who claim 3M's earplugs were defective and led to hearing
issues. 3M's response The earplugs worked when used according to their instructions.
I expect PFAS to be a front-page news item.
Um, for the next couple of years.
Back at Hermon High, a water filtration system is set to be installed over the summer.
As for Adam, whose farm was shut down?
This contamination is, I'm beyond words.
He's since learned his land was spread with municipal wastewater treatment sludge in the early
90s, at the time marketed to farmers as a free or cheap source of
fertilization.
The farmers were told they were fertilizing their crops.
Unfortunately, that wastewater is laden with all sorts of industrial chemicals that are
leaching out of consumer products.
He's now working for the nonprofit Defend Our Health, its mission to reduce people's
exposure to toxic chemicals.
We know there are farms that have spoken out in New Mexico and Colorado and Michigan.
They're likely farms in every state that are knowingly or unknowingly
dealing with these chemicals.
His message to chemical manufacturers.
They need to step up to the plate and pay for the impacts that they've
they've had on the world.