Tartan High School alumni push for ban on products containing forever chemicals  

Derek Lowen went to the state Capitol Tuesday with a shaved head, exposing a scar above the base of his neck, extending straight up the back of his head.

The scar is from surgery after doctors found a tumor the size of a baseball in his brain when he was 14 years old and a student at Tartan High School in Oakdale.

He testified before a House environment committee about why he thinks lawmakers should pass a bill banning PFAS chemicals in products in Minnesota beginning in 2025. It exempts certain products considered “essential,” such as medical devices and airplanes.

On the table in front of him was a jar of water from Tartan High School, where many students got cancer in the community near the headquarters of 3M, which has made the chemicals since the 1950s.

The chemicals are now found in the blood of nearly all people, and have been linked to low fertility, birth defects, suppression of the immune system, thyroid disease and cancer.

3M settled with the state of Minnesota for $850 million in 2018 over contamination of the state, particularly water in East Metro communities, but the company now faces a wave of fresh litigation across the country — and an aggressive push for regulation at the state Capitol and in Washington, D.C.

When Lowen ran out of words to describe what he went through battling cancer — and still suffers from today — he mentioned the scar on his head, which was visible to lawmakers as he returned to his seat.

The bill (HF1000) was advanced to the commerce committee.

Bill author Rep. Jeff Brand, DFL-St. Peter, listed how many types of the chemicals have been detected in the drinking water of each committee member’s district. He said his bill would “turn off the tap” of chemicals flooding the state in products such as car seats, dental floss, carpeting, cosmetics, cookware, toys, shampoo, fast food packaging, fabrics and cleaners.

Another Tartan High School alumna, Amara Strande, also testified in support of the bill. The 20-year-old Woodbury woman is dying of a rare liver cancer she was diagnosed with at age 15. Oakdale started filtering its water in 2006 after it was found to be contaminated with chemicals that 3M dumped in the county for decades, creating what is now a 200-square-mile underground plume east of St. Paul.

She said 3M was a presence in her school’s STEM program — with the slogan “solving what’s hard.” Now, she said, it’s time for the company to step up and do just that.

“This is your chance to be a leader among billion-dollar corporations that saves lives by rebuilding the community that built you from the ground up,” Strande said. “It only seems natural that we should see a corporation like 3M, who promoted ‘solving what’s hard’ to fifth-grader me, rise to the occasion as leaders in innovation. Now is your chance to shine.”

Her father, Michael, also testified, saying reducing the amount of products with the chemicals will reduce the amount going into landfills and leaching into groundwater.

“We don’t need to protect billion-dollar corporations,” he said.

He said based on 3M’s track record, lawmakers should not expect the company to regulate itself. 3M failed for decades to report to regulators and scientists that its chemicals could be toxic to humans, animals and the environment.

“The more important question you ought to ask is ‘Am I willing to hold the child as she dies in my arms, or is it more important for me to coddle the billion-dollar corporation?’” Michael Strande said.

Tony Kwilas, director of environmental policy for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, said the bill would affect small and medium companies, which would have to check with numerous suppliers to see if something as small as a gasket has the chemicals in them. Businesses want consistency, he said, not a patchwork of rules across the nation.

Dozens of legislatures are considering hundreds of bills to crack down on the chemicals, according to Stateline.

Jay Eidsness, an environmental lawyer for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said 3M refused to protect the public and environment until litigation. 

“We cannot rely on corporate benevolence to solve this problem,” he said.

And even though 3M announced in late December plans to stop making PFAS and stop using the chemicals in its products by the end of 2025, Eidsness said that must be viewed skeptically, because other companies will continue to fill the void and often companies come up with other substitutes that are similarly toxic.

“The story of PFAS began in Minnesota,” Eidsness said. “Eyes across the country and world are looking to see how we rise to this moment.”

3M said it supports PFAS regulation based on the “best available science and established regulatory processes” but the  regulations should be crafted carefully “to meet regulatory objectives and help maintain the availability of important products that are made with PFAS.”