The British Columbia government says it has filed a class-action lawsuit against manufacturers of so-called “forever chemicals” involved in what it calls widespread contamination of drinking-water systems.
Attorney General Niki Sharma says the province is the first Canadian jurisdiction to sue makers of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
B.C. has filed similar class-action lawsuits in the past, targeting tobacco manufacturers in 1998 and opioid makers in 2018 to recover health-care costs associated with those substances.
Sharma says in a statement that the province is filing the lawsuit to “ensure that companies that created the problem, and profited from these chemicals, pay their fair share.”
According to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the chemicals have been used in consumer goods ranging from non-stick cookware to cleaning products.
The institute says research shows exposure may lead to childhood obesity, weakened immune systems and certain types of cancer.