In 1938, chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett accidentally discovered tetrafluoroethylene in a DuPont laboratory. In 1941, DuPont patented tetrafluoroethylene. In 1942, tetrafluoroethylene was used in the Manhattan Project in the United States (to make the outer material of tanks), and DuPont was a major player. In 1944, DuPont named "Teflon" registered trademark of the name. In 1954, Colette, the wife of French engineer Marc Gregoire, thought Teflon would work well on a frying pan since it would prevent fishing line from tangling. That same year, DuPont began producing Teflon, and it quickly became the company's most profitable assembly line ($70 million in 3 days). In 1954, the supplier 3M submitted to DuPont a toxicity report on PTFE, which showed that it was harmful to embryonic deformities (mainly eyes) in experiments on rats. From 1954 to 1975, DuPont conducted human experiments on its own, injecting materials into cut tobacco and distributing cigarettes to workers to smoke. Many workers in the Teflon production line died of illness and premature death, ranging from 30 to 50 years old. There are also many women who have given birth to deformed babies. One of them is named Bucky Bailey, who appears in real life in the film. He has only one eye and one nostril, and it is not in the correct position. Look carefully. In 1975, more than 200 cows died strangely on a farm next to DuPont's stockyard in West Virginia (yes, the place where "Country Roads Take Me Home" is the place where they sing affectionately). Show strong aggression. Breeder Erl Tenant dissected dead cattle, preserved the infected organs as evidence, and videotaped the dissection. In the 1980s, DuPont tested the toxicity of Teflon. As a comparison, it was necessary to look for blood samples without C-8 (the carbon molecular chain that makes up tetrafluoroethylene) in blood, including animals. The results were all over the world. It was finally found in a blood sample of a US soldier who served in the Korean War. That is to say, after the 1950s, almost all living organisms contain tetrafluoroethylene. In 1998, Tennant found attorney Robert Bilott through fellow countrymen. Bilott), the protagonist of the film, he is a defense attorney. At the beginning of the film, he has just become a partner of the law firm he is engaged in. DuPont is the largest client of this law firm. Bilott took over the case, and in the same year, he and DuPont president Phil talked about the matter for the first time, and the other side expressed their willingness to cooperate. In 1999, Bilot and Phil met again to talk about it, and Phil got angry in public. Due to legal process, DuPont sent Bilot all material from 1941 onwards, filling the archives. Bilot turned down all the cases, and spent a year reading all the materials and numbering them one by one. He found a chemical called PFOA. He asked DuPont to no avail. Instead, he consulted experts and scholars to find out. It is one of the carbon molecular chains called C-8 that damages human health. In 2000, the Tennant family was ostracized by fellow villagers, and soon after the couple was diagnosed with cancer. DuPont sent helicopters to monitor the farm 24/7, and Tennant, armed with a shotgun, slept on a pickup to guard it. In the same year, at Bilot's insistence, DuPont agreed to civil mediation, giving Tennant compensation (the exact figure was not said). Tennant didn't accept it at first, but agreed with Bilot's persuasion. The family left the farm they had run for generations and moved to the town. In 2001, Bilot was ostracized by his colleagues, and his boss continued to support him despite the opposition. In 2002, the district court heard the DuPont case for the first time, disagreeing about the standard of C-8 content, that is, how much content can be judged harmful. The EPA only started testing chemicals in 1976, when no standards were established, and it all depended on companies' self-inspection. In the same year, the Standards Development Group was born. In 2003, families of other victims who gave evidence to Bilot were attacked and ostracized, including local residents who worked for DuPont. In 2004, Bilott asked the chemical engineer at DuPont, who had been contacted with 3M's toxicity report, and confirmed that DuPont knew from the beginning about the dangers of C-8 but did nothing. DuPont agreed to pay $16.5 million in fines to the EPA and $70 million in fees to the litigation community, including Bilott's law firm. Bilot pushes more local residents to claim compensation, but medical supervision is required, that is, to establish a medical equivalent relationship between the waste water and exhaust gas emitted by DuPont's production of Teflon and residents' health problems. Once the relationship is established, DuPont will will pay 2. $3.5 billion in compensation. A guardian group of unaffiliated scientists was formed, and its operations were paid for by law firms. Bilot is under enormous pressure. In 2005, as of Christmas Eve, 69,000 residents received blood samples for $400 each, paid by DuPont. Residents brought their families to draw blood, expressing gratitude to DuPont in their words. In 2006, the EPA sued DuPont. DuPont, citing no previous standards, said it would have to wait for test results before paying. Residents who did not receive compensation took anger at Bilot and the witnesses. Bilot was cut his salary three times and developed symptoms of shaking his right hand. In 2010, Bilot neglected the family because he devoted too much energy to the case, and the conflict between husband and wife broke out. In 2011, Bilot was cut his salary for the fourth time, to one-third of the original salary, and fainted and was hospitalized. In 2012, the results of the inspection team's investigation were announced, and a peer-to-peer relationship was established. DuPont backtracked and refused to pay compensation. Billot turned to class action tactics to his chagrin. In 2015, class action lawsuits opened, and a total of 3,535 cases were brought against DuPont for which DuPont paid 6. $70.7 billion in compensation. That same year, the EPA banned the use of Teflon in civilian products. In 2017, the main components in PTFE, PFOA and PFOS, were listed as Group 2B carcinogens. Attorney Bilott is still litigating for the victimized American family to this day. Third, my views on the film First of all, the topical significance of the film exceeds the artistic value, which is beyond doubt. The film promotes the society and the legal system. South Korea's "The Furnace" is an outstanding representative. It directly pushed the government to issue a law on the protection of minors. American filmmakers also like to put an incident on the screen to let the audience know the whole story. It will undoubtedly strengthen the people's vigilance and monitoring of the government and companies, and the United States is a country with case law, and its role is even greater. It is worth mentioning that "Focus", another film of the same theme filmed and produced by "Black Water", won the 2016 Oscar for the best film and is recommended to watch. Looking at us on the other hand, there are fewer real-world movies. I am very much looking forward to someone who will bring the Huawei 251 incident to the screen. "I'm Not the God of Medicine" got off to a good start, but so far there has been no follow-up work. It is worth mentioning that "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is an adaptation of a realistic theme, and it has been changed a lot. A really good realistic movie requires the producer to adhere to realism from the bottom of his heart. We may have realistic themes here, but at present, there is still a lack of realism. Secondly, as mentioned above, the performance of the film is relatively common, and the average audience is easily bored. Even for audiences who like this kind of subject matter, the last half hour is not satisfactory, because there is no emotional coherence. If the first one and a half hours through a series of details kept people's emotions on a level line (it is indeed flat compared to "Focus"), then the last half hour slipped, and there was no climax until the end. The director and screenwriter also knew this, so they arranged scenes where Bilot and his wife quarreled and fainted and were sent to the doctor, but the story has progressed to such a stage that the audience can no longer be attracted by the plot outside the main line. Third, some of the plots are unconvincing. For example, at the beginning, lawyer Bilot took over the case of the farm. The motive of the film's explanation was nostalgia, and the use of "Country Road Bring Me Home" was used to exaggerate emotions. Although it is touching, it lacks rationality. persuasive. Another example is the last half, where all the characters are in a state of waiting, and the result of the waiting is that DuPont repents. As a senior lawyer, didn't he think of this at the beginning? In the film, Bilot puts the blame on the government and DuPont. This is an emotional catharsis. If the film makes some technical explanations in the front of the film, for example, DuPont's lawyers have found legal leaks. If the hole is left as a way back, then DuPont's sudden remorse is much more convincing. Of course, the film is still very worth watching, especially for friends who pay attention to social news. For me, after watching this film, I have come to know more about a synthetic material called Teflon, and it is all around us (European and American countries have banned its use, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of my country only started to demonstrate in 2019 Whether Teflon is harmful to human health, currently only depends on the manufacturer's self-consciousness). In the future, when purchasing plastic products such as pots and pans and looking at the constituent materials, you will pay special attention to the words PTFE, PFOA, PFOS, and C-8.
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