October 3, 2018
Shortly after Hurricane Florence
.....a group of CNC members gathered to watch a film. The room was stunned by this riveting tale of long-term irresponsibility and injustice.
In 1945, DuPont introduced Teflon to the marketplace and changed millions of American households. Today, a biopersistent chemical used in the creation of those products is in the bloodstream of 99 percent of all Americans.
“Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical – now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans – into the drinking water supply.”
A compelling and ultimately terrifying watch that will make you question everything in your kitchen, The Devil We Know comprehensively lays out the history of the DuPont corporation’s use of the chemical C8, examines its environmental and health impact (and the company’s awareness of that impact), and celebrates the everyday whistleblowers and fact finders who helped bring this crisis to the public’s attention.
Director Stephanie Soechtig and co-director Jeremy Seifert create an investigative documentary with stakes at once both personal and looming as they weave together the first-hand stories of those personally affected by DuPont’s Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant with an alarming portrait of the potential consequences of corporations’ unchecked use of chemicals that go on to permeate the living world.
The film received positive reviews when it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
We give much thanks to Captain Dave Backus for researching and finding followup material on GenX and the other disastrous chemicals in Teflon production talked about in the movie "The Devil We Know".